what are the differences between tributary and distributary

Tributary: Tributaries are the branches of a river, starting high up in awatershed and slowly working their way down to join other tributaries and eventually the mainstream, which drains to the sea. Tributaries come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, and the study of tributaries is a topic of interest for some biologists, because it is possible to use tributaries to follow pollution and various living organisms like invasive exotics back to their source. You can see tributaries on a map; look for the characteristic opening of a river on the sea, and then trace it inland. All of the small branches which appear are tributaries....!!@@!!

Distributary: A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. They are a common feature of river deltas . The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation . The opposite of a distributary is atributary . Distributaries usually occur as a stream nears a lake or the ocean , but they can occur inland as well, such as in an endorheic basin, or when a tributary stream bifurcates as it nears its confluence with a larger stream. In some cases, a minor distributary can "steal" so much water from the main channel that it can become the main route....!!