Geography T1 - Drainage basins

What is the drainage basin/catchment area?

The area drained by a river and its tributaries, bounded by a watershed.

Characteristics

→Every river has its own drainage basin.
→Drainage basins are giant open systems - they have external inputs and outputs. (compare with the hydrological cycle which is a closed system)
→The amount of water in the drainage basin varies over time.
→A number of factors influence input, output, and transport of sediment and water in a drainage basin. Such factors include topography (landscape), soil type, bedrock type, climate, and vegetation cover.
→Some river basins deliver to the sea, some to other river basins and others to inland bodies of water- lakes or inland seas
→Generally, rivers originate in upland areas and flow to the sea.

What is a watershed?

The imaginary dividing line between one drainage basin and another.

What is mouth/estuary?

an opening in the river that flows to another body- usually the sea.

What is source?

where the river originates

What is channel network?

the pattern of linked streams and rivers within a drainage basin

What is trubutary?

smaller streams that enter the main river channel

what is confluence?

where two rivers/streams meet

What is discharge?

The quantity of water that passes a given point on a stream or river‐bank within a given period of time

What is drainage density?

is the total length or all the steams and rivers in a drainage basin divided by the total area of the drainage basin.

what is drainage network?

a system of surface and underground channels that collect and transport the precipitation falling on the drainage basin.

features of a drainage basin image: