Parts or all of 31 states plus two Canadian provinces drain into the Mississippi River, totaling 41% of the contiguous United States and 15% of North America. Along with being the largest U.S. drainage basin, the Mississippi also creates borders for 10 states.
What are the major drainage basins in the US?
U.S. River Basins
- Pacific Northwest Basin.
- California River Basin.
- Great Basin.
- Lower Colorado River Basin.
- Upper Colorado River Basin.
- Rio Grande River Basin.
What is the world largest drainage basin?
The Amazon Basin, in northern South America, is the largest in the world. The Amazon River and all of its tributaries drain an area more than 7 million square kilometers (about 3 million square miles).
Which drainage basin is the largest drainage basins in South America?
All basins larger than 400,000 km2 (150,000 sq mi) are included as well as selected smaller basins. It includes drainage basins which do not flow to the ocean (endorheic basins).
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Basins.
| Basin | Río de la Plata |
|---|---|
| Continent | South America |
| Drains to | Atlantic Ocean |
| Basin Area km2 | 3,170,000 |
| Basin Area mi2 | 1,220,000 |
What are the 5 major drainage basins in North America?
The basins are the Atlantic Seaboard basin, the Gulf of Mexico basin, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence basin, the Pacific basin, the Arctic basin, the Hudson Bay basin, and the Great Basin. Together, the principal basins span the continent with the exception of numerous smaller endorheic basins.
What is the largest divide in the world?
The most famous Continental Divide of the Americas is also called the Great Divide. It separates the watersheds of the Pacific Ocean from those of the Atlantic Ocean. It runs from Alaska, through western Canada along the crest of the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico.
What is the difference between drainage basin and catchment area?
But, there are subtle differences between them. River Basin: All the area drained by a river and its tributaries. Catchment area: It refers to all the area of land over which rain falls and is caught to serve a river basin.
What are the 2 largest river basins 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 Mississippi (3.22M km2), and the Río de la Plata (3.17M km2). The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganga, and Congo rivers.
How many rivers are included major drainage basins?
Introduction. River basin is considered as the basic hydrological unit for planning and development of water resources. There are 12 major river basins with catchment area of 20000 km2 and above.
What is the difference between river basin and drainage basin?
When used as nouns, drainage basin means a topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet, whereas river basin means an extent of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a river or series of rivers.
Are oceans drainage basins?
Ocean Basins
Ocean drainage basins are comprised of large river, lake and other types of basins that ultimately drain into an ocean. Nearly half of all the land on Earth drains through the Atlantic Ocean basin.
What other linked systems are included in a drainage basin?
Drainage Basins
Outputs include channel runoff, evapotranspiration and groundwater flow.
What is the largest drainage basin in Canada?
Canada has five ocean drainage basins. The largest by far is the Hudson Bay basin; the smallest, situated in the southern Prairies, flows via the Missouri and Mississippi rivers into the Gulf of Mexico.
How much of the US drains into the Gulf of Mexico?
It drains 41 percent of the 48 contiguous states of the United States. The basin covers more than 1,245,000 square miles, includes all or parts of 31 states and two Canadian provinces, and roughly resembles a funnel which has its spout at the Gulf of Mexico.
How many watersheds are in the USA?
Working in groups of two or three, have students use the MapMaker Interactive and/or their atlases to try to find a total of 12 major U.S. watersheds, including the Mississippi watershed. Have them look for and mark with colored pencil the tributaries that flow into the rivers they marked in Step 5.