Logging requirements:
Send me a message through GCHQ Messenger with :
- The text "GC14YV1 The Lake that Drains to 2 Oceans" on the first line
- The number of people in your group.
- What causes the lake's water to swell and overflow its borders?
- Which arm of the lake drains into which body of water?
- How many endorheic basins appear to be outlined on the map, Backbone of a Continent?
- Explain how the same road can cross the continental divide twice.
A continental divide is an imaginary line in which water falling on one side of it eventually drains to the ocean on one side of the continent while water falling on the other drains to the ocean on the other side. (Wikipedia). In the United States, this line generally follows the Rocky Mountains and divides water that drains to the Pacific and Atlantic oceans (including the Gulf of Mexico).
However, there are some exceptions, known as endorheic basins. These basins have no outlet to an ocean. In these basins, water is trapped and only escapes through evaporation or seepage.
The continental divide is also found at N44 26.039 W110 38.473 along the same road.
As you find the answers to the logging requirements, you will find that this is likely the only natural lake that drains to two oceans in the direction it does. It also drains in two different ways because it is at the Continental Divide. During the spring melt, water will drain on the surface through the outlets. But for the rest of the year, most of the water will drain, subsurface, through seepage.
The above information was compiled from the following sources:
- NPS informational Panal
- Fritz, William J., Roadside Geology of the Yellowstone Country, Mountain Press Publishing Company, May 1989.
Placement approved by the
Yellowstone National Park