What is the Continental Divide?
The continental divide runs from northwestern Canada along the crest of the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico. Then, it follows the crest of Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidental. In South America, the Continental Divide lies along the Andes.
Every continent except for Antarctica has a continental divide.
The Continental Divide of the Americas, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainus, Hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain into the Atlantic Ocean (including those that drain into the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribean Sea), and along the northernmost reaches of the Divide, those river systems that drain into the Artic Ocean.
Also known as the Great Divide, the Continental Divide is the line that divides the flow of water between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean. Rain or snow that drains on the east side of the Continental Divide flows toward the Atlantic Ocean while precipitation on the west side drains and flows toward the Pacific Ocean. (However, some rivers empty into the desert and don't end up in the oceans.)
There are many other hydrological divides in the Americas, however the Great Divide is by far the most prominent of these because it tends to follow a line of high peaks along the main ranges of the Rocky Mountains and Andes, at a generally much higher elevation than the other divides.
The line dividing rivers flowing west to the Pacific from drainage to the Arctic and Atlantic is easiest to visualize, since it lies along the main ranges of the Rocky Mountains. Often it is convenient to use such natural boundaries for human organization, and the Alberta-British Columbia border follows the divide for a considerable distance, as does the border between the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
Email me the answers to the following questions: 1. If you dropped a leaf into the Rancheria River and the Swift River, which one would have a longer journey? 2. What seperates the two largest river drainages in North America? 3. What watershed is the most biologically productive part of the Yukon? Answers can be found upon the signboards at this site.
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