Firstly, what exactly is a drainage basin?

The term refers to a part of the land with water that is derived from rainfall, melted ice or snow which gathers and then flows into a large body of water. These basins often contain streams which funnels water into larger waterways, that includes, lakes, wetlands, rivers and of course, oceans.

Geographical barriers, such as mountains or hills often separate drainage basins, causing large basins to turn into several smaller ones. Larger drainage basins can best be categorized as big basins and according to their large body of water content that has an outflow of water.

Three Major Water Basins on Earth

  • Ocean Basins

You’ve probably guessed that ocean basins make up the biggest draining basins in the world, hence its endless supply of water.

Ocean drainage basins are made up of the big river, lake or other basin types that drain into the oceans. Close to half of the earth’s land drains via the Atlantic Ocean’s draining basin, which receives its water supply from the Saint Lawrence’s River and other rivers in the country and in sections based in Canada. Each Ocean has its own drainage basin.

  • Endorheic Basins

Endorheic basins are often an unknown concept to most individuals and refer to areas of land which drains into inland lakes and seas. These basins don’t have an outflow to the ocean, hence the name endorheic drainage basins. Water only escapes from these basins through evaporation. The biggest endorheic basin is the one located in central Asia, which drains into the Aral and Caspian Seas.

  • River Basins

River-based drainage basins include sections of land that gets drained by rivers and connects to tributaries. The biggest river that drains via a river basin and into the ocean, are known as estuaries.

The biggest river basin in the world is the Amazon basin that in South America, followed by the Congo basin located in Africa, as well as Mississippi’s River basin, located in North America.

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