Editing Lowell, Massachusetts (section)

===Physical===

[[File:1975 map of canal system in Lowell, Massachusetts.png|thumb|right|Central Lowell's canal system (1975). The city limits extend in all directions from this central core.]]
Lowell is located at the [[confluence]] of the [[Merrimack River|Merrimack]] and [[Concord River|Concord]] rivers. The [[Pawtucket Falls (Massachusetts)|Pawtucket Falls]], a mile-long set of rapids with a total drop in elevation of 32 feet, ends where the two rivers meet. At the top of the falls is the Pawtucket Dam, designed to turn the upper Merrimack into a [[millpond]], diverted through Lowell's extensive canal system.

The Merrimack, which flows southerly from [[Franklin, New Hampshire]] to Lowell, makes a northeasterly turn there before emptying into the [[Atlantic Ocean]] at [[Newburyport, Massachusetts]], approximately {{cvt|40|mile}} downriver from Lowell. It is believed that in prior ages, the Merrimack continued south from Lowell to empty into the ocean somewhere near [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]]. The glacial deposits that redirected the flow of the river left the [[drumlin]]s that dot the city, most notably, Fort Hill in the Belvidere neighborhood. Other large hills in Lowell include Lynde Hill, also in Belvidere, and Christian Hill, in the easternmost part of Centralville at the [[Dracut, Massachusetts|Dracut]] town line.

The Concord, or Musketaquid (its original name), forms from the confluence of the [[Assabet River|Assabet]] and [[Sudbury River|Sudbury]] rivers at [[Concord, Massachusetts]]. This river flows north into the city, and the area around the confluence with the Merrimack was known as Wamesit. Like the Merrimack, the Concord, although a much smaller river, has many waterfalls and rapids that served as power sources for early industrial purposes, some well before the founding of Lowell. Immediately after the Concord joins the Merrimack, the Merrimack descends another ten feet in Hunt's Falls.

There is a ninety-degree bend in the Merrimack partway down the Pawtucket Falls. At this point, the river briefly widens and shallows. Here, [[Beaver Brook (Merrimack River)|Beaver Brook]] enters from the north, separating the city's two northern neighborhoods, [[Pawtucketville]] and Centralville. Entering the Concord River from the southwest is River Meadow, or Hale's Brook. This brook flows largely in a man-made channel, as the [[Lowell Connector]] was built along it. Both of these minor streams have limited industrial histories as well.

The bordering towns (clockwise from north) are [[Dracut, Massachusetts|Dracut]], [[Tewksbury, Massachusetts|Tewksbury]], [[Billerica, Massachusetts|Billerica]], [[Chelmsford, Massachusetts|Chelmsford]], and [[Tyngsborough, Massachusetts|Tyngsborough]]. The border with Billerica is a point in the middle{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} of the Concord River where Lowell and Billerica meet Tewksbury and Chelmsford.

The ten communities designated part of the Lowell Metropolitan area by the 2000 US Census are [[Billerica, Massachusetts|Billerica]], [[Chelmsford, Massachusetts|Chelmsford]], [[Dracut, Massachusetts|Dracut]], [[Dunstable, Massachusetts|Dunstable]], [[Groton, Massachusetts|Groton]], Lowell, [[Pepperell, Massachusetts|Pepperell]], [[Tewksbury, Massachusetts|Tewksbury]], [[Tyngsborough, Massachusetts|Tyngsborough]], and [[Westford, Massachusetts|Westford]], and [[Pelham, New Hampshire]]. See [[Greater Lowell]].