What is the Continental Divide?
A Continental Divide is a physical land formation that parts the main waterways of a continent. The North American Continental Divide begins in Northern Alaska continuing south through the Canadian Rockies. In the United States the Divide follows the Rocky Mountains through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. The southern portion of the Divide peaks along Mexicos Sierra Madre Occidental. In the United States the Divide parts all precipitation and waterways to the west of the Divide into the Pacific Ocean and eastwardly to the Mississippi River drainage and Atlantic Ocean.
A continental divide is an imaginary line down a continent that demarcates whether water in the area will flow towards a given body of water (usually an ocean) or another. The most famous continental divide is the north-south Continental Divide of the Americas, sometimes known as the Great Divide or just the Continental Divide. This divide is more than 6,000 miles (9,600 km) long, stretching from the western tip of Alaska all the way to Tierra del Fuego at the southernmost tip of South America. This continental divide mostly demarcates whether water flows into the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean. Some areas close to the divide, like the Great Basin, are endorheic basins, meaning that they retain water in salt lakes or salt pans, and it never flows to the ocean. In the United States, the Continental Divide does not go clear down the middle of the country, but follows the peaks of the Rocky Mountains, which are somewhat offset to the west. Immediately east of the Rocky Mountains and throughout
A textbook question, one perfect for an encyclopedia site such as Britannica.com. A simple search on “continental divide” quickly returned a clear and concise explanation. We learned that the term “continental divide” is applied to the main water parting of any continent. However, we’re going to assume your question refers to the Continental Divide in North America. The divide runs along the crest of the Rockies, from British Columbia, through the United States, and continues southward into Mexico and Central America. It divides the continent’s principal drainage into that flowing eastward (to the Hudson Bay in Canada or to the Mississippi River) and that flowing westward (to the Pacific Ocean). For some great information on the Continental Divide Trail, visit the nonprofit Continental Divide Trail Alliance. In addition to providing facts ab
A Continental Divide is a physical land formation that parts the main waterways of a continent. The North American Continental Divide begins in Northern Alaska continuing south through the Canadian Rockies. In the United States the Divide follows the Rocky Mountains through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. The southern portion of the Divide peaks along Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental. In South America, the Continental Divide lies along the Andes.In the United States the Divide parts all precipitation and waterways to the west of the Divide into the Pacific Ocean and eastwardly to the Mississippi River drainage and Atlantic Ocean.
A continental divide is always a series of relatively high mountains, that effective divide the drainage of the continent. For example, much of North America drains into the Gulf of Mexico via some part of the Mississippi-Missouri river system. That system begins in the eastern portion of the Rocky Mountains to the west, in the Appalachian Mountains to the east, and the Great Canadian Shield in the north. The rock formations of the Great Canadian Shield also involve some area of the US, coming down through Michigan’s Northern Peninsula and around the southern (and western) edges of Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario as well as encompassing all of Lake Superior. Everything in North America east of the Appalachian Mountains drains into the Atlantic Ocean, so the Appalachians are a continental divide as well. The west coast drains into the Pacific Ocean, but this includes much of the Rocky Mountains as well as Coastal Range. Every continent has at least one continental divide. The An
