What is considered a drainage basin?

Author: Jayne Haag  |  Last update: Thursday, December 14, 2023

A drainage basin is an area of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water such as a river, lake, wetland or ocean.

What is an example of a drainage basin?

The United States is home to several very large drainage basins, including the Columbia River drainage basin, the Colorado River basin and the Mississippi River drainage basin. The Mississippi River drainage basin is the fourth largest in the world.

What are the 4 types of drainage basins?

The major types of basins are river drainage basins, structural basins, and ocean basins. A river drainage basin is an area drained by a river and all of its tributaries. A river basin is made up of many different watersheds. A watershed is a small version of a river basin.

How do I identify a drainage basin?

It is a land feature that can be identified by tracing a line along the highest elevation between two areas on a map, often a ridge. Larger drainage basins, like the areas that drains into the Columbia River, contain many smaller drainage basins, often called watersheds.

What is the most common drainage basin?

About 48.71% of the world's land drains to the Atlantic Ocean. In North America, surface water drains to the Atlantic via the Saint Lawrence River and Great Lakes basins, the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, the Canadian Maritimes, and most of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Drainage basin hydrological cycle

What is an example of a basin?

A couple of specific examples of river basins include the Amazon, Mississippi, and Congo River basins. The Amazon River basin is the largest in the world, is found in South America, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The Mississippi River basin covers nearly 40% of the lower 48 states and flows into the Gulf of Mexico.

How many drainage basins are in the US?

There are 18 major river basins in the 48 states of the contiguous US, but much of the map is dominated by the massive catchment area for the Mississippi River, including the Upper and Lower Mississippi River Basins, along with Missouri River Basin and the Arkansas-White-Red Basin, as seen in pink.

Where is a drainage basin?

A drainage basin is the area of land around the river that is drained by the river and its tributaries .

What is an example of a drainage area?

For example, the total area drained by the Mississippi River constitutes its drainage basin, whereas that part of the Mississippi River drained by the Ohio River is the Ohio's drainage basin.

What are the 3 parts of a drainage basin?

Catchment area - the area within the drainage basin. Watershed - the edge of highland surrounding a drainage basin which marks the boundary between two drainage basins. Source - the beginning or start of a river.

What is the difference between drainage basin and drainage?

Answer: Drainage describes the river system of an area. The area drained by a single river system is called a drainage basin. Any upland or a mountain separating two adjoining drainage basins is known as water divide.

Why is it called a drainage basin?

A drainage basin is an area of land that contributes the water it receives as precipitation to a river or network of rivers. Drainage basins are defined by topographical features, called drainage divides, which determine the direction the water flows.

What are two examples of drainage systems?

Types of Drainage Systems

There are two main types of drainage system options: surface drains and french drains. Surface drainage systems consist of a few ground-level areas drains that are connected to PVC piping. When it rains, water flows down the drains, into the piping, and is transferred away from the house.

What are the five types of drainage?

Drainage patterns
  • Dendritic drainage pattern.
  • Parallel drainage pattern.
  • Trellis drainage pattern.
  • Rectangular drainage pattern.
  • Radial drainage pattern.
  • Centripetal drainage pattern.
  • Deranged drainage pattern.
  • Annular drainage pattern.

What are the three types of drainage explain?

No matter what type of property you own, it's important to know the basics of drainage. Inadequate water drainage can result in a variety of issues, including structural damage and flooding. In this post, we will discuss the three types of drainage: surface drainage, subsurface drainage, and stormwater management.

Where is the largest drainage basin?

As of 2021, the Amazon basin, located in northern South America, was the largest drainage basin in the world. The Amazon River and its tributaries drain an area nearly seven million square kilometers.

What are the other names for drainage basin?

On this page you'll find 4 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to drainage basin, such as: catchment area, catchment basin, drainage area, and watershed.

Is the Atlantic Ocean a drainage basin?

A drainage basin is an area that drains all precipitation received as a runoff or base flow (groundwater sources) into a particular river or set of rivers. Canada's major drainage regions are the Atlantic Ocean, Hudson Bay, Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

What are the biggest basins in the US?

Along with being the largest U.S. drainage basin, the Mississippi also creates borders for 10 states. The Mississippi River provides necessary resources to the United States and the world and has helped to shape American history and commerce, including tourism and the fishing industry.

What are some basins in the US?

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.

Where are basins located in the US?

The Great Basin includes most of Nevada, half of Utah, and sections of Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon, and California. The term "Great Basin" is slightly misleading; the region is actually made up of many small basins. The Great Salt Lake, Pyramid Lake, and the Humboldt Sink are a few of the "drains" in the Great Basin.

What are the 7 basins?

There are seven such ocean regions, or basins, around the world:
  • the Atlantic.
  • the Eastern Pacific (includes the Central Pacific)
  • the Northwest Pacific.
  • the North Indian.
  • the Southwest Indian.
  • the Australian/Southeast Indian.
  • the Australian/Southwest Pacific.

Is a basin land or water?

Purpose. A drainage basin is an area of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water such as a river, lake, wetland or ocean. The drainage basin includes both the streams and rivers that convey the water as well as the land surface from which water drains into those channels.

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