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Watershed delineation is the process of identifying the boundary of a watershed, also referred to as a catchment, drainage basin, or river basin.It is an important step in many areas of environmental science, engineering, and management, for example to study flooding, aquatic habitat, or water pollution.
The list of drainage basins by area identifies basins (also known as "catchments" or, in North American usage, "watersheds"), sorted by area, which drain to oceans, mediterranean seas, rivers, lakes and other water bodies. All basins larger than 400,000 km 2 (150,000 sq mi) are included
A drainage basin or catchment basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain, melting snow, or ice converges to a single point at a lower elevation, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean. For example, a tributary stream of a ...
Watersheds of North America are large drainage basins which drain to separate oceans, seas, gulfs, or endorheic basins. 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.
Other terms for a drainage basin are catchment area, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin, water basin, [3] [4] and impluvium. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] In North America, they are commonly called a watershed , though in other English-speaking places, " watershed " is used only in its original sense, that of the drainage divide line.
Catchment zone in Nattai, Australia containing drinking water. Catchment hydrology is the study of hydrology in drainage basins. Catchments are areas of land where runoff collects to a specific zone. This movement is caused by water moving from areas of high energy to low energy due to the influence of gravity.
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Conversely, the water entering a low drainage density basin will, on average, have to travel a longer distance over the low velocity hillslope to reach the channels. As a result, the water will require more time to reach the exit of the catchment.