Drainage basin

A drainage basin is any area of land where

precipitation collects and drains off into a common
outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of
water. The drainage basin includes all the surface
water from rain runoff, snowmelt, hail, sleet and
nearby streams that run downslope towards the shared
outlet, as well as the groundwater underneath the
earth's surface.[1] Drainage basins connect into other
drainage basins at lower elevations in a hierarchical
pattern, with smaller sub-drainage basins, which in
turn drain into another common outlet.[2]

Other terms for drainage basin are catchment area,

catchment basin, drainage area, river basin, water
basin,[3][4] and impluvium.[5][6][7] In North
America, the term watershed is commonly used to
mean a drainage basin, though in other English- Top-down illustration of a drainage basin. The
speaking countries, it is used only in its original sense, dashed line is the main water divide of the
that of a drainage divide. hydrographic basin.

In a closed drainage basin, or endorheic basin, the

water converges to a single point inside the basin,
known as a sink, which may be a permanent lake, a
dry lake, or a point where surface water is lost
underground.[8]

The drainage basin acts as a funnel by collecting all

the water within the area covered by the basin and
channelling it to a single point. Each drainage basin is
separated topographically from adjacent basins by a
perimeter, the drainage divide, making up a
succession of higher geographical features (such as a
ridge, hill or mountains) forming a barrier.
Digital terrain map of the Latorița River's drainage
Drainage basins are similar but not identical to basin in Romania
hydrologic units, which are drainage areas delineated
so as to nest into a multi-level hierarchical drainage
system. Hydrologic units are defined to allow multiple inlets, outlets, or sinks. In a strict sense, all drainage
basins are hydrologic units but not all hydrologic units are drainage basins.[8]

Contents
Major drainage basins of the world
Ocean basins
Largest river basins
 Endorheic drainage basins
Importance
Geopolitical boundaries
Hydrology
Geomorphology
Ecology
Resource management
Catchment factors
Topography
Shape
Size Digital terrain model of the Latorița River's drainage
Soil type basin in Romania

Land use
See also
References
Citations
Sources
External links

Major drainage basins of the world

Major continental divides, showing how terrestrial drainage basins drain into
the oceans. Grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the
oceans

Ocean basins

The following is a list of the major ocean basins:

About 48.7% 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. Nearly all of South America east of the Andes also drains to the Atlantic, as
 does most of Western and Central
Europe and the greatest portion of
western Sub-Saharan Africa, as
well as Western Sahara and part
of Morocco. The two major
mediterranean seas of the world
also flow to the Atlantic:
The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of
Mexico basin includes most of
the U.S. interior between the
Appalachian and Rocky
Mountains, a small part of the
Canadian provinces of Alberta
and Saskatchewan, eastern
Central America, the islands of Map showing river networks in the Adirondack Mountains with
the Caribbean and the Gulf, the drainage basins colour-coded. This is part of a series
and a small part of northern created by the Hungarian cartographer Robert Szucs, who has
South America. mapped terrestrial drainage basins globally.[9]
The Mediterranean Sea basin
includes much of North Africa,
east-central Africa (through the Nile River), Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe,
Turkey, and the coastal areas of Israel, Lebanon, and Syria.
The Arctic Ocean drains most of Western and Northern Canada east of the Continental
Divide, northern Alaska and parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana
in the United States, the north shore of the Scandinavian peninsula in Europe, central and
northern Russia, and parts of Kazakhstan and Mongolia in Asia, which totals to about 17%
of the world's land.[10]
Just over 13% of the land in the world drains to the Pacific Ocean[10]. Its basin includes
much of China, eastern and southeastern Russia, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, most of
Indochina, Indonesia and Malaysia, the Philippines, all of the Pacific Islands, the northeast
coast of Australia, and Canada and the United States west of the Continental Divide
(including most of Alaska), as well as western Central America and South America west of
the Andes.
The Indian Ocean's drainage basin also comprises about 13% of Earth's land. It drains the
eastern coast of Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Indian
subcontinent, Burma, and most of Australia.
The Southern Ocean drains Antarctica. Antarctica comprises approximately eight percent of
the Earth's land.

Largest river basins

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.[11]

Endorheic drainage basins

Endorheic drainage basins are inland basins that do not drain to an
ocean. Around 18% of all land drains to endorheic lakes or seas or
sinks. The largest of these consists of much of the interior of Asia,
which drains into the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea, and numerous
smaller lakes. Other endorheic regions include the Great Basin in
the United States, much of the Sahara Desert, the drainage basin of
the Okavango River (Kalahari Basin), highlands near the African
Great Lakes, the interiors of Australia and the Arabian Peninsula,
and parts in Mexico and the Andes. Some of these, such as the
Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of
separate, adjacent closed basins.

In endorheic bodies of standing water where evaporation is the

primary means of water loss, the water is typically more saline than Endorheic basin in Central Asia
the oceans. An extreme example of this is the Dead Sea.

Importance

Geopolitical boundaries

Drainage basins have been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in
regions where trade by water has been important. For example, the English crown gave the Hudson's Bay
Company a monopoly on the fur trade in the entire Hudson Bay basin, an area called Rupert's Land.
Bioregional political organization today includes agreements of states (e.g., international treaties and, within
the US, interstate compacts) or other political entities in a particular drainage basin to manage the body or
bodies of water into which it drains. Examples of such interstate compacts are the Great Lakes Commission
and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

Hydrology

In hydrology, the drainage basin is a logical unit of focus for

studying the movement of water within the hydrological cycle,
because the majority of water that discharges from the basin outlet
originated as precipitation falling on the basin. A portion of the
water that enters the groundwater system beneath the drainage
basin may flow towards the outlet of another drainage basin
because groundwater flow directions do not always match those of
their overlying drainage network. Measurement of the discharge of
water from a basin may be made by a stream gauge located at the
basin's outlet.

Rain gauge data is used to measure total precipitation over a

drainage basin, and there are different ways to interpret that data. If Drainage basin of the Ohio River,
part of the Mississippi River drainage
the gauges are many and evenly distributed over an area of
basin
uniform precipitation, using the arithmetic mean method will give
good results. In the Thiessen polygon method, the drainage basin
is divided into polygons with the rain gauge in the middle of each
polygon assumed to be representative for the rainfall on the area of land included in its polygon. These
polygons are made by drawing lines between gauges, then making perpendicular bisectors of those lines
form the polygons. The isohyetal method involves contours of equal precipitation are drawn over the
gauges on a map. Calculating the area between these curves and adding up the volume of water is time-
consuming.

Isochrone maps can be used to show the time taken for runoff water within a drainage basin to reach a lake,
reservoir or outlet, assuming constant and uniform effective rainfall.[12][13][14][15]

Geomorphology

Drainage basins are the principal hydrologic unit considered in fluvial geomorphology. A drainage basin is
the source for water and sediment that moves from higher elevation through the river system to lower
elevations as they reshape the channel forms.

Ecology

Drainage basins are important in ecology. As water

flows over the ground and along rivers it can pick up
nutrients, sediment, and pollutants. With the water,
they are transported towards the outlet of the basin,
and can affect the ecological processes along the way
as well as in the receiving water source.

Modern use of artificial fertilizers, containing

nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, has affected the
mouths of drainage basins. The minerals are carried
by the drainage basin to the mouth, and may
accumulate there, disturbing the natural mineral
balance. This can cause eutrophication where plant The Mississippi River drains the largest area of
growth is accelerated by the additional material. any U.S. river, much of it agricultural regions.
Agricultural runoff and other water pollution that
flows to the outlet is the cause of the hypoxic, or
Resource management dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

Because drainage basins are coherent entities in a

hydrological sense, it has become common to manage water resources on the basis of individual basins. In
the U.S. state of Minnesota, governmental entities that perform this function are called "watershed
districts". In New Zealand, they are called catchment boards. Comparable community groups based in
Ontario, Canada, are called conservation authorities. In North America, this function is referred to as
"watershed management". In Brazil, the National Policy of Water Resources, regulated by Act n° 9.433 of
1997, establishes the drainage basin as the territorial division of Brazilian water management.

When a river basin crosses at least one political border, either a border within a nation or an international
boundary, it is identified as a transboundary river. Management of such basins becomes the responsibility of
the countries sharing it. Nile Basin Initiative, OMVS for Senegal River, Mekong River Commission are a
few examples of arrangements involving management of shared river basins.

Management of shared drainage basins is also seen as a way to build lasting peaceful relationships among
countries.[16]

Catchment factors
The catchment is the most significant factor determining the amount or likelihood of flooding.

Catchment factors are: topography, shape, size, soil type, and land use (paved or roofed areas). Catchment
topography and shape determine the time taken for rain to reach the river, while catchment size, soil type,
and development determine the amount of water to reach the river.

Topography

Generally, topography plays a big part in how fast runoff will reach a river. Rain that falls in steep
mountainous areas will reach the primary river in the drainage basin faster than flat or lightly sloping areas
(e.g., > 1% gradient).

Shape

Shape will contribute to the speed with which the runoff reaches a river. A long thin catchment will take
longer to drain than a circular catchment.

Size

Size will help determine the amount of water reaching the river, as the larger the catchment the greater the
potential for flooding. It is also determined on the basis of length and width of the drainage basin.

Soil type

Soil type will help determine how much water reaches the river. The runoff from the drainage area is
dependent on the soil type. Certain soil types such as sandy soils are very free-draining, and rainfall on
sandy soil is likely to be absorbed by the ground. However, soils containing clay can be almost
impermeable and therefore rainfall on clay soils will run off and contribute to flood volumes. After
prolonged rainfall even free-draining soils can become saturated, meaning that any further rainfall will
reach the river rather than being absorbed by the ground. If the surface is impermeable the precipitation will
create surface run-off which will lead to higher risk of flooding; if the ground is permeable, the precipitation
will infiltrate the soil.

Land use

Land use can contribute to the volume of water reaching the river, in a similar way to clay soils. For
example, rainfall on roofs, pavements, and roads will be collected by rivers with almost no absorption into
the groundwater.

See also
Continental Divide of the Americas – principal hydrological divide of North and South
America
Integrated catchment management
Interbasin transfer
International Journal of River Basin Management (JRBM)
International Network of Basin Organizations
 Main stem – Final large channel of a riverine system
River basin management plans
River bifurcation
Tenaja
Time of concentration
Catchment hydrology

References

Citations
1. "drainage basin" (https://web.archive.org/web/20040321033433/http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/fa
culty/ritter/glossary/a_d/drainage_basin.html). The Physical Environment. University of
Wisconsin–Stevens Point. Archived from the original (http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/
glossary/a_d/drainage_basin.html) on March 21, 2004.
2. "What is a watershed and why should I care?" (https://web.archive.org/web/2012012112251
9/http://www.wr.udel.edu/cb/whatwhycare.html). university of delaware. Archived from the
original (http://www.wr.udel.edu/cb/whatwhycare.html) on 2012-01-21. Retrieved
2008-02-11.
3. Lambert, David (1998). The Field Guide to Geology (https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetog
eol00lamb_0/page/130). Checkmark Books. pp. 130–13 (https://archive.org/details/fieldguid
etogeol00lamb_0/page/130). ISBN 0-8160-3823-6.
4. Uereyen, Soner; Kuenzer, Claudia (9 December 2019). "A Review of Earth Observation-
Based Analyses for Major River Basins" (https://doi.org/10.3390%2Frs11242951). Remote
Sensing. 11 (24): 2951. Bibcode:2019RemS...11.2951U (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2
019RemS...11.2951U). doi:10.3390/rs11242951 (https://doi.org/10.3390%2Frs11242951).
5. Huneau, F.; Jaunat, J.; Kavouri, K.; Plagnes, V.; Rey, F.; Dörfliger, N. (2013-07-18). "Intrinsic
vulnerability mapping for small mountainous karst aquifers, implementation of the new
PaPRIKa method to Western Pyrenees (France)". Engineering Geology. Elsevier. 161: 81–
93. doi:10.1016/j.enggeo.2013.03.028 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.enggeo.2013.03.028).
"Efficient management is strongly correlated to the proper protection perimeter definition
around springs and proactive regulation of land uses over the spring's catchment area
("impluvium")."
6. Lachassagne, Patrick (2019-02-07). "Natural mineral waters" (https://www.encyclopedie-env
ironnement.org/en/water/natural-mineral-waters/#5_Protected_and_managed_over_time).
Encyclopédie de l'environnement. Retrieved 2019-06-10. "In order to preserve the long-term
stability and purity of natural mineral water, bottlers have put in place "protection policies" for
the impluviums (or catchment areas) of their sources. The catchment area is the territory on
which the part of precipitated rainwater (and/or snowmelt) that infiltrates the subsoil feeds
the mineral aquifer and thus contributes to the renewal of the resource. In other words, a
precipitated drop on the impluvium territory may join the mineral aquifer; ..."
7. Labat, D.; Ababou, R.; Manginb, A. (2000-12-05). "Rainfall–runoff relations for karstic
springs. Part I: convolution and spectral analyses". Journal of Hydrology. 238 (3–4): 123–
148. Bibcode:2000JHyd..238..123L (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000JHyd..238..123
L). doi:10.1016/S0022-1694(00)00321-8 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2FS0022-1694%2800%2
900321-8). "The non-karstic impluvium comprises all elements of the ground surface and
soils that are poorly permeable, on a part of which water is running while also infiltrating on
another minor part. This superficial impluvium, if it exists, constitutes the first level of
organisation of the drainage system of the karstic basin."
 8. "Hydrologic Unit Geography" (https://archive.is/20121214100316/http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/
stormwater_management/hu.shtml). Virginia Department of Conservation & Recreation.
Archived from the original (http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/stormwater_management/hu.shtml) on
14 December 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
9. Frank Jacobs (7 Feb 2019) These maps show the world’s rivers in stunning detail (https://w
ww.weforum.org/agenda/2019/02/the-worlds-watersheds-mapped-in-gorgeous-detail) World
Economic Forum.
10. Vörösmarty, C. J.; Fekete, B. M.; Meybeck, M.; Lammers, R. B. (2000). "Global system of
rivers: Its role in organizing continental land mass and defining land-to-ocean linkages" (http
s://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/1999GB900092). Global
Biogeochemical Cycles. 14 (2): 599–621. doi:10.1029/1999GB900092 (https://doi.org/10.10
29%2F1999GB900092). ISSN 1944-9224 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1944-9224).
11. Encarta Encyclopedia articles on Amazon River, Congo River, and Ganges Published by
Microsoft in computers.
12. Bell, V. A.; Moore, R. J. (1998). "A grid-based distributed flood forecasting model for use with
weather radar data: Part 1. Formulation" (https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00304542/file/h
ess-2-265-1998.pdf) (PDF). Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. Copernicus
Publications. 2 (2/3): 265–281. Bibcode:1998HESS....2..265B (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.ed
u/abs/1998HESS....2..265B). doi:10.5194/hess-2-265-1998 (https://doi.org/10.5194%2Fhess
-2-265-1998).
13. Subramanya, K (2008). Engineering Hydrology (https://books.google.com/books?id=LROqK
vHaRyMC&q=Clark%E2%80%99s+IUH+time-area+method+isochrone&pg=PA298). Tata
McGraw-Hill. p. 298. ISBN 978-0-07-064855-5.
14. "EN 0705 isochrone map" (https://web.archive.org/web/20121122145250/http://webworld.un
esco.org/water/ihp/db/glossary/glu/EN/GF0705EN.HTM). UNESCO. Archived from the
original (http://webworld.unesco.org/water/ihp/db/glossary/glu/EN/GF0705EN.HTM) on
November 22, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
15. "Isochrone map" (http://www.websters-dictionary-online.org/definitions/Isochrone+map).
Webster's Online Dictionary. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
16. "Articles" (http://www.strategicforesight.com/inner-articles.php?id=310#.WA9Ia-V97GI).
www.strategicforesight.com.

Sources
DeBarry, Paul A. (2004). Watersheds: Processes, Assessment and Management. John
Wiley & Sons.

External links
Instructional video: Manual watershed delineation is a five-step process (https://www.youtub
e.com/watch?v=RxO2814piio)
Instructional video: To delineate a watershed you must identify land surface features from
topographic contours (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTO3lRfpKVs)
Science week catchment factsheet (http://www.abc.net.au/science/catchmentdetox/factshee
t/)
Catchment Modelling Toolkit (http://www.toolkit.net.au/)
Water Evaluation And Planning System (WEAP) - modeling hydrologic processes in a
drainage basin (http://www.weap21.org/)
New Mexico State University - Water Task Force (https://web.archive.org/web/20060913064
817/http://spectre.nmsu.edu/watertaskforce/aboutus.lasso?t=31&v=Watershed%20Manage
ment)
 Recommended Watershed Terminology (https://web.archive.org/web/20060212062909/htt
p://www.watershed.org/news/fall_94/terminology.html)
Watershed Condition Classification Technical Guide (https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo41782)
United States Forest Service
Science in Your Watershed (http://water.usgs.gov/wsc), USGS
Studying Watersheds: A Confluence of Important Ideas (http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-1/id
eas.htm)
Water Sustainability Project Sustainable water management through demand management
and ecological governance, with the POLIS Project at the University of Victoria (https://web.a
rchive.org/web/20100903183933/http://www.waterdsm.org/)
Map of the Earth's primary watersheds (https://web.archive.org/web/20040408040253/http://
earthtrends.wri.org/maps_spatial/maps_detail_static.cfm?map_select=274&theme=2), WRI
What is a watershed and why should I care? (https://web.archive.org/web/20120121122519/
http://www.wr.udel.edu/cb/whatwhycare.html)
Cycleau - A project looking at approaches to managing catchments in North West Europe (ht
tps://web.archive.org/web/20061011005121/http://www.cycleau.com/index.asp)
flash animation of how rain falling onto the landscape will drain into a river depending on the
terrain (http://techalive.mtu.edu/meec/module01/whatiswatershed.htm)
StarHydro – software tool that covers concepts of fluvial geomorphology and watershed
hydrology (http://web.mit.edu/star/hydro)
EPA Surf your watershed (http://cfpub.epa.gov/surf/locate/index.cfm)
Florida Watersheds and River Basins - Florida DEP (https://web.archive.org/web/20090806
002334/http://www.protectingourwater.org/watersheds/map/)

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