Transcript Drainage Basin Drainage Basin – all the area of land drained by one river and its tributaries.

Drainage Basin
Drainage Basin – all the area of land
drained by one river and its tributaries
Watershed or water divide. The edge of a
drainage basin.
The high ground
that divides one
drainage basin
from another.
Watershed
Watershed
Source -
The point where
a river starts.
The Mississippi with its source Lake Itasca at 450 m.
above sea level in northern Minnesota.
Tributary – the Missouri joins the Mississippi. A small river
that flows into a bigger river is a tributary.
The Mississippi is joined by the Illinois River and the
Missouri River at Saint Louis, and by the Ohio at Cairo,
Illinois. The Arkansas River joins the Mississippi in the
state of Arkansas.
Confluence –
Where two
rivers join.
The Missouri flows into the Mississippi. ‘The Big Muddy’
and ‘The Mighty Mississippi’. First explored 1804 by
Lewis and Clark.
Channel – where a
river flows. Often
between two banks
and on one bed.
But not always.
Mississippi –
flood plain
with meaders
and ox-bow
lakes,
Mouth – the end
of a river.
The Mississippi has
built a delta at its
mouth.
The Mississippi flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes
occur here! The delta can be swamped by the sea.