U.S. rivers, a map.

Discussion in 'Earth Science' started by sculptor, Oct 23, 2016.

  1. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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  3. Randwolf Ignorance killed the cat Valued Senior Member

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  5. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    That's a very cool watershed map.

    Some cool things I note:
    • watershed boundaries also define mountain ranges and highlands
    • what's going on up there around the great lakes?
    • not all rivers lead to the sea - look at the little ones in the west of Texas
    • interesting to note that there are no areas of any significant size that are not irrigated by rivers (except around the Missouri R through North/South Dakota) - even in the desert areas
    • look at how clean the heads of the rivers are along the Northern edge. Must be the permafrost line.

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    Last edited: Oct 23, 2016
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  7. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    That's bizarre. The routes do not end at the shores of the Great Lakes; they extend to the actual border - in the middle of the GL. They are showing rivers where the lakes are!

    I guess that's just an artifact of how they render large bodies of water. After all, it's still effectively showing the flow of water down to the St. Lawrence Seaway.

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  8. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    agree
    I would rather see maps without political boundaries.....................(a pet peeve with winter weather maps).
     
  9. timojin Valued Senior Member

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  10. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Yeah. Makes sense, what with the Rockies to the West, the Appalachians to the East, and a thousand miles of more land to the North. (The geographic centre of the North Ameican continent is somehere near the Dakotas.)
     
  11. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    They are just extending the rivers feeding the Great Lakes to the center of each lake.
    Keep in mind that some of those rivers may flow only a day or two a year (i.e. the rivers around the Salton Sea.)
     
  12. iceaura Valued Senior Member

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    Takehome lesson the first: the drainage basin for the Great Lakes is pretty small. They are not a source of fresh water in quantity for anywhere else.
     
  13. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Are you including Canada?

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  14. iceaura Valued Senior Member

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    Of course. The drainage basin of the Great Lakes is very small compared with the volume of water in them - they are not high-volume sources of water for distant farms etc. Draw them down, they will take a long time to refill.
     

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