List of drainage basins by area 2 See also
The list of drainage basins by area identifies basins (also known as watersheds or catchments), sorted by area, which drain to oceans, mediterranean seas, rivers, lakes and other water bodies. 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). It includes oceanic sea drainage basins which have hydrologically coherent areas (oceanic seas are set by IHO convention).
• List of rivers by discharge • List of rivers by length
3 Notes [1] Archived 15 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine
The oceans drain approximately 83% of the land in the world. The other 17% – an area larger than the basin of the Arctic Ocean – drains to internal endorheic basins.
[2] This is an approximate value based on geospatial data from the USGS. Approximate values for the area of Greenland and Antarctica were added to this data.
Note that there are substantial areas of the world that do not “drain” in the commonly understood sense. In Arctic deserts much of the snowfall sublimates directly into the air and does not melt into flowing water, while in equatorial deserts precipitation may evaporate before joining any substantial water course. However, these areas can still be included in topographically defined basins if one considers the hypothetical flow of water (or ice), and thus nutrients or pollutants, over the surface of the ground (or ice sheet); this is the approach taken here. For example, the Antarctic ice sheet can be divided into basins,[1] and most of Libya is included in the Mediterranean Sea basin even though almost no water from the interior actually reaches the sea.
[3] The value listed here assumes that the entire continent drains to the ocean, such as through the many ice streams, outlet glaciers, and seasonal glacial streams along the coast. However, there are many small endorheic lakes, for example in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. [4] Note that the connection between a mediterranean sea (or a large estuary) and its parent ocean usually involves simultaneous inflow and outflow in the lower and upper water layers of the connecting channel. Depending on the salinity of the sea, the upper layer may either flow into or out from the ocean; the bottom layer will flow the opposite direction. [5] The Mississippi is not the longest watercourse in the Mississippi-Missouri watershed; the combination of the Lower Mississippi and the Missouri is longer. The Upper Mississippi River could thus be seen as a tributary of that river. See list of rivers by length for more details. [6] Raúl A. Guerrero; et al. (June 1997). “Physical oceanography of the Río de la Plata Estuary, Argentina”. Continental Shelf Research 17 (7): 727–742. doi:10.1016/S0278-4343(96)00061-1. [7] Arnold, Guy (2000). World strategic highways. Taylor & Francis. p. 223. ISBN 978-1-57958-098-8. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
Major continental divides, showing drainage into the major oceans and seas of the world--Drainage basins of the principal oceans and seas of the world. Grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the ocean.
[8] “Map of the Lake Eyre basin”. Environment.gov.au. 2011-02-18. Retrieved 2011-04-10. [9] “Canada Drainage Basins”. The National Atlas of Canada, 5th edition. Natural Resources Canada. 1985. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
1
Basins
[10] http://www.feow.org/ecoregions/details/yenisei [11] “Encyclopædia Britannica”. Britannica.com. Retrieved 2011-04-10.
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
[12] http://www.somwe.com/hydropolitics.html
1
2
4
[13] “Boundary Descriptions and Names of Regions, Subregions, Accounting Units and Cataloging Units”. USGS.gov. Retrieved 2010-12-21. NOTE: The Great Basin is a set of endorheic drainage basins, the largest being the 35,910 km2 (13,860 sq mi) basin that drains into the Great Salt Lake. [14] River Ecosystem Ecology: A Global Perspective, Gene E. Likens, Academic Press, March 29, 2010, page 359
4
External links • • Lake database
EXTERNAL LINKS
3
5
Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses
5.1
Text
• List of drainage basins by area Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drainage_basins_by_area?oldid=702415246 Contributors: Rmhermen, Tannin, Tpbradbury, Donarreiskoffer, Altenmann, Bkell, Andy Smith, Rich Farmbrough, Vsmith, MBisanz, Dralwik, Hintha, Keenan Pepper, Bathrobe, Avenue, Carioca, Danthemankhan, BlueMoonlet, Vegaswikian, SGreen~enwiki, Citynoise, Poulpy, SmackBot, Unschool, Pfly, Hmains, TheGerm, Chlewbot, Gala.martin, Pilotguy, BrownHairedGirl, Mircea, Mr.Clown, SmokeyJoe, EmreDuran, Tawkerbot2, Lahiru k, Myasuda, MaxEnt, Cydebot, Codetiger, Chrislk02, Mattisse, JamesAM, D V S, JAnDbot, MartinBot, Oceanflynn, Funandtrvl, RadiantRay, ClueBot, Sethton, Felix Folio Secundus, Addbot, Gaga.vaa, NeB27, Brutaldeluxe, LucienBOT, ClickRick, I dream of horses, Jonesey95, Thrissel, Helium4, Laurel Lodged, SBaker43, Hatifnatter, Kalpathyram, Hike796, ClueBot NG, Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot, Gorthian, Cyberbot II, NicciRicci, YiFeiBot, Monkbot and Anonymous: 55
5.2
Images
• File:Ocean_drainage.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Ocean_drainage.png License: Public domain Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons. Original artist: Citynoise at English Wikipedia
5.3
Content license
• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0