Talk:Drainage basin

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Watersheds in the curriculum[edit]

Does this section really belong in an encyclopedia article? Which curriculum? Which country? And surely the vast majority of articles in Wikipedia cover topics that are present in the curriculum of some educational establishment, somewhere in the world? --Lancevortex 23:01, 21 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I do not think it does belong here, and so I've been bold and removed it. Worldtraveller 11:34, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)

48.7%[edit]

The article states that "About 48.7% of the world's land drains to the Atlantic Ocean."

Given the map, that half of the world's land drains to the Atlantic can't possibly be true. Using the map as a coarse guide, one can see that about half of North America (overestimate) and Africa (underestimate) drain to the Atlantic along with close to all of Europe and South America. Using figures from Google and Wikipedia, that means that 9.54/2 + 11.67/2 + 3.931 + 6.888 = 21.42 million sq mi of land drains to the Atlantic. With a total terrestrial land area of 57.5 million sq mi, this means that only 37.2% of land drains to the Atlantic, far short of 48.7%.

Additionally, the given percentages sum to 99.7% (48.7 + 17 + 13 + 13 + 13 + 8), but without accounting for any of the endorheic basins, which eyeballed look to be around the size of South America, which is 12% of the world's land area. 48.7 - 37.2 = 11.5% ~= 12%, so I submit that it is simply not the case that 48.7% of the world's land drains to the Atlantic.

Further, none of the percentages are cited, and it's clear that common sense yields that they may be false. This should be addressed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 169.229.97.127 (talk) 04:17, 3 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Agree on all your points, however looking at List_of_drainage_basins_by_area and dividing by a total land area of 148,940,000 km2 (from List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_area) yields 46,9% for the Atlantic basin.

There is a note about the source being USGS, but the direct link is broken, so it is hard to check.

Using the same list as source for the remaining numbers yield:

Arctic Ocean: 15.5%

Pacific Ocean: 13.6%

Indian Ocean: 13.0%

Southern Ocean: 9.4%

Total endoheic basin area is 18% according to this article itself!

Total: 116,4%

Something really does not add up - not sure what. Tøpholm (talk) 22:13, 27 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

geography[edit]

The importance of managing drainage basin and catchment area 41.246.129.71 (talk) 13:08, 30 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Another Word[edit]

Is the word 'river catchment' also used as a name for a drainage basin? Watch Atlas791 (talk) 21:40, 28 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

APPLICATION OF SWAT MODEL FOR ESTIMATING RUNOFF AT JIGJIGA DRY RIVER WATERSHED, SOMALI REGION, ETHIOPIA. FOR ESTIMATING RUNOFF AT JIGJIGA DRY RIVER WATERSHED, SOMALI REGION, ETHIOPIA.[edit]

APPLICATION OF SWAT MODEL FOR ESTIMATING RUNOFF. Addow.AT (talk) 15:09, 28 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]