PART 0003 2010 BEST BEST OF cruisinwithkenny MOUNTAIN BIKING COLORADO Continental Divide
THE
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the continental divides . A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not connected to the open sea.
The endpoints where a continental divide meets the coast are not always definite, because the exact border between adjacent bodies of water is usually not clearly defined.
The International Hydrographic Organization's publication
Limits of
Oceans and Seas defines exact boundaries of oceans, but it is not universally recognized. Where a continental divide meets an endorheic basin, such as the
Great Divide Basin of
Wyoming, the continental divide splits and encircles the basin.
The Continental Divide of the
Americas, also called the
Great Divide, separates the watersheds of the
Pacific Ocean from those of the
Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. It runs from the
Seward Peninsula in
Alaska, through western
Canada along the crest of the
Rocky Mountains, including through
Glacier National Park,
Yellowstone National Park, and
Rocky Mountain National Park to
New Mexico. From there, it follows the crest of
Mexico's
Sierra Madre Occidental and extends to the tip of
South America. It is crossed by the
Panama Canal and by the two outlets of
Isa Lake in Yellowstone National Park.
The
Northern Divide, or
Laurentian Divide, separates the watershed of the
Atlantic Ocean from that of
Hudson Bay. The western part of it from Glacier National Park in the Rocky Mountains to the
Great Lakes watershed marked the northern boundary of the
Louisiana Purchase and was the border between the
United States and
British North America until it was superseded by the
49th parallel in the treaty of 1818. In Canada, it historically marked the southern boundary of the fur trading monopoly area of the
Hudson's Bay Company, and the easternmost portion still marks part of the boundary between
Quebec and
Labrador. The divide traverses very flat terrain, especially in
North Dakota, causing many travelers to believe the
sign marking the divide is a joke.[1]
The
St. Lawrence River Divide separates the
Great Lakes Basin from the rest of the Atlantic Ocean watershed. Two canals cross the divide: The
Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal crosses the
Chicago Portage and connects
Lake Michigan to the
Mississippi River watershed. The
Erie Canal connects
Lake Erie to the
Hudson River watershed. Historically there were additional canals, e.g., the
Ohio and Erie Canal, but most of these are no longer in operation.
The
Eastern Continental Divide separates the watershed of the
Gulf of Mexico from the Atlantic Ocean. It runs from the
Twin Tiers of
New York and
Pennsylvania along the
Appalachian Mountains to the tip of
Florida. The city of
Atlanta sits atop this divide.
The Arctic Divide, in conjunction with other continental divides of
North America, demarcates two watersheds of the
Arctic Ocean: the Arctic Ocean watershed and the
Hudson Bay watershed. This divide was a barrier to transportation until the
Methye Portage was discovered in 1778, which opened up the Arctic rivers to the fur traders and became part of a transcontinental trade route from Atlantic to
Pacific. It was of significance in
Canadian history because it marked the northern boundary of
Rupert's Land, the trading monopoly area of the Hudson's Bay Company.[2]
In South America, the
Continental Divide of the Americas lies along the
Andes, from
Lácar Lake and south there are numerous lakes on the eastern slopes that drains to the Pacific, crossing the line of highest peaks. These lakes in
Patagonia are moraine-dammed streams that used to drain to the Atlantic rather than the Pacific before the Pleistocene glaciations.
In
Australia the
Great Dividing Range largely separates those rivers flowing to the eastern seaboard and the Pacific Ocean from those flowing westward to the
Murray-Darling Basin and to the
Southern Ocean. However, Australia has fewer distinct ocean boundaries and fewer prominent mountain ranges, which makes it hard to clearly and precisely define any one divide. Much of the interior of the continent drains into the endorheic
Lake Eyre Basin.
Eurasia has various divides, depending on the definition of "ocean" (for example, the
Mediterranean Sea and its various lobes, the Atlantic Ocean, the
North Sea, the
Baltic Sea, the Arctic Ocean and the
Black Sea with
Europe). Examples include: