Mississippi River, the longest river of North America, draining with its major tributaries an area of approximately 1.2 million square miles (3.1 million square km), or about one-eighth of the entire continent.
What is the largest watershed in North America?
For example, as the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico, it is carrying water from its entire watershed, the second-largest in the world. It includes about 40 percent of the area of the continental United States and provides water for millions of people.
What are the 5 major drainage basins in North America?
There are six generally recognized hydrological continental divides which divide the continent into seven principal drainage basins spanning three oceans (Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific) and one endorheic basin.
What is the largest drainage basin in the United States?
Mississippi River
What is the largest river system in North America?
If then combined with its tributaries – the Slave, Peace and Finlay rivers – it extends to (2,635 miles) (4,240 km), and becomes the second longest river in North America, second only to the Mississippi/Missouri river system combination at (3,877 miles) (6,236 km) in length.
What are the three largest watersheds in the world?
The five largest river basins (by area), from largest to smallest, are the basins of the Amazon (7M km2), the Congo (4M km2), the Nile (3.4M km2), the Río de la Plata (3.2M km2), and the Mississippi (3M km2). The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganga, and Congo rivers.
What is the largest watershed in the US?
Mississippi River Watershed
What are the 5 major drainage basins in Canada?
The major Canadian drainage basins are the following:
- Arctic Ocean.
- Pacific Ocean.
- Hudson Bay including James Bay and Ungava Bay.
- Atlantic Ocean including the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Drainage basin.
- Gulf of Mexico by the Mississippi River basin.
What is the world’s largest drainage basin?
The five largest river basins (by area), from largest to smallest, are the basins of the Amazon (7M km2), the Congo (4M km2), the Nile (3.4M km2), the Río de la Plata (3.2M km2), and the Mississippi (3M km2). The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganga, and Congo rivers.
What drainage region in South America is the largest in the world?
South America has three important river basins: the Amazon, Orinoco, and Paraguay/Paraná. The Amazon River basin has an area of almost 7 million square kilometers (2.7 million square miles), making it the largest watershed in the world.
What is the largest drainage basin in North America?
Basins
| Basin | Type | Continent |
|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Ocean | Ocean | multiple |
| Arctic Ocean | Ocean | multiple |
| Pacific Ocean | Ocean | multiple |
| Indian Ocean | Ocean | multiple |
73 more rows
How many miles long is Mississippi?
The staff of Itasca State Park at the Mississippi’s headwaters suggest the main stem of the river is 2,552 miles long. The US Geologic Survey has published a number of 2,300 miles, the EPA says it is 2,320 miles long, and the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area suggests the river’s length is 2,350 miles.
Which is the longest river in North America?
Missouri River
What is the deepest river in North America?
The deepest river in the world is the Congo River in Africa. At its deepest point, the river reaches a depth of approximately 720 feet. This depth makes the Congo River about 64 feet deeper than the second deepest river in the world, which is the Yangtze River in China.
What is the largest country in North America?
Largest North American Countries: (by land area)
- Canada: 9,984,670 sq km.
- United States: 9,826,630 sq km.
- Mexico: 1,923,040 sq km.
- Nicaragua: 120,254 sq km.
- Honduras: 112,090 sq km.
- Cuba: 110,860 sq km.
- Guatemala: 108,890 sq km.
- Panama: 78,200 sq km.
What is the largest river system in the United States?
The Mississippi drainage basin includes the Missouri and the Mississippi rivers, the two longest main-stem rivers in the United States, as well as 18 more of the rivers on this list. The Mississippi main stem is highlighted in dark blue.
What’s the largest freshwater lake in the world?
Lake Baikal
Which river has the largest drainage area in Canada?
The St. Lawrence is the largest river flowing into the Atlantic Ocean. Its drainage basin includes the Great Lakes, forming an inland navigable waterway extending some 2,340 miles (3,765 km) into the heart of the continent. The longest Pacific-draining river that is wholly within Canada is the Fraser.
What are examples of watersheds?
A watershed describes an area of land that contains a common set of streams and rivers that all drain into a single larger body of water, such as a larger river, a lake or an ocean. For example, the Mississippi River watershed is an enormous watershed.
How do we pollute watersheds?
If untreated, these pollutants wash directly into waterways carried by runoff from rain and snowmelt. These contaminants can infiltrate groundwater and concentrate in streams and rivers, ultimately being carried down the watershed and into the ocean.
Where is the worlds largest watershed located?
Where is the World’s Largest Watershed? The biggest watershed in the world is the Amazon River Basin with discharge greater than the next six largest rivers combined. The Amazon basin covers 2.7 million square miles and accounts for 20% of world’s total river flow; this watershed covers 40% of South America.
How big is the Mississippi River watershed and what separates it from other watersheds?
The Mississippi River has the world’s fourth-largest drainage basin (“watershed” or “catchment”). The basin covers more than 1,245,000 square miles (3,220,000 km2), including all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces.
What was South America named after?
Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci is best known for his namesake: the continents of North and South America. But why were these continents named after him, especially since his voyages happened after Christopher Columbus’ famed 1492 sail on the ocean blue?
Which religion has had the greatest impact on Central America and South America?
Catholicism. Except for Suriname and Uruguay, the more professed religion in the South American countries is the Catholic religion. While countries such as Paraguay, Peru, Colombia and Argentina more than three-quarters of the population is Catholic, in Chile it is 57%.
Why is much of South America’s Pacific coast so dry?
Why is much of South America’s Pacific coast so dry? The mountains are a barrier and the Andes prevent moisture from reaching the coast. Weather goes from East to West. high plateau that rises in step-like cliffs toward the Andes.
Photo in the article by “Wikimedia Commons” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pacific_Northwest_River_System.png