North American continental divide

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System of continental watersheds in North America
Ocean basins and continental divide in North America (eastern border of the Pacific basin)

The continental divide (English Continental Divide ) is the watershed in North and Central America that separates the catchment areas of the rivers that flow into different oceans. These are the Pacific (to the west), the Arctic Ocean (to the north) and the Atlantic Ocean over the Gulf of Mexico (to the southeast). However, it is a simplified representation because there are no drainage ( endorheic ) areas in North America . The largest such area is the Great Basin in Nevada and Utah with foothills to California , Oregon, and Idaho .

Marking the watershed at Loveland Pass in Colorado

Most of the watershed follows the ridge of the Rocky Mountains . It begins in Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska and runs east to the Canadian Yukon Territory and then south to British Columbia , where it forms the border with the Province of Alberta . It then runs through Montana , Wyoming , Colorado and New Mexico in the United States to Mexico and Central America along the Sierra Madre Occidental ridge .

The watershed point with outflow into all three oceans is Triple Divide Peak in Glacier National Park in Montana . Here the Laurentine watershed branches off to the east. If one assigns the Hudson Bay , whose assignment to the Atlantic Ocean or the Arctic Ocean is controversial, to the Atlantic, the triple watershed would be in the Columbia Icefield in Canada .

Another special feature in the course of the watershed is the Great Divide Basin in Wyoming: Here it divides south of the South Pass into two arms that enclose an area of ​​approx. 10,000 km² without any drainage. The Great Divide Basin is thus within the main continental watershed.

Also in Wyoming is the Two Ocean Pass , where the only river bifurcation of the continental divide in North America is located (called Parting of the Waters ). The North Two Ocean Creek divides at the pass into the Pacific Creek , which drains to the Pacific, and the Atlantic Creek , which flows into the Atlantic.

The Continental Divide Trail , a 5000 km long long- distance hiking trail from Mexico to Canada, runs along the continental divide .

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