1.
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid fellowship founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio. AAs stated primary purpose is to help alcoholics stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety, with other early members, Bill Wilson and Bob Smith developed AAs Twelve Step program of spiritual and character development. AAs initial Twelve Traditions were introduced in 1946 to help the fellowship be stable, the Traditions recommend that members and groups remain anonymous in public media, altruistically help other alcoholics and avoid official affiliations with other organizations. They advise against dogma and coercive hierarchies, subsequent fellowships such as Narcotics Anonymous have adopted and adapted the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions to their respective primary purposes. According to AAs 2014 membership survey, 27% of members have been less than one year, 24% have 1–5 years sober, 13% have 5–10 years, 14% have 10–20 years. Studies of AAs efficacy have produced inconsistent results, while some studies have suggested an association between AA attendance and increased abstinence or other positive outcomes, other studies have not.
The first female member, Florence Rankin, joined AA in March 1937, and the first non-Protestant member, AA membership has since spread across diverse cultures holding different beliefs and values, including geopolitical areas resistant to grassroots movements. Over 2 million people worldwide are members of AA as of 2016, AAs name is derived from its first book, informally called The Big Book, originally titled Alcoholics Anonymous, The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered From Alcoholism. AA sprang from The Oxford Group, a non-denominational movement modeled after first-century Christianity, some members founded the Group to help in maintaining sobriety. Feeling a kinship of common suffering and, though drunk, Wilson attended his first Group gathering, within days, Wilson admitted himself to the Charles B. Towns Hospital after drinking four beers on the way—the last alcohol he ever drank, under the care of Dr. William Duncan Silkworth, Wilsons detox included the deliriant belladonna.
At the hospital a despairing Wilson experienced a flash of light. Following his hospital discharge Wilson joined the Oxford Group and recruited other alcoholics to the Group, Wilsons early efforts to help others become sober were ineffective, prompting Dr. Silkworth to suggest that Wilson place less stress on religion and more on the science of treating alcoholism. Wilsons first success came during a trip to Akron, where he was introduced to Dr. Robert Smith. After thirty days of working with Wilson, Smith drank his last drink on June 10,1935, by 1937, Wilson separated from the Oxford Group. AA Historian Ernest Kurtz described the split. more and more, Bill discovered that new adherents could get sober by believing in each other and this, then—whatever it was that occurred among them—was what they could accept as a power greater than themselves. They did not need the Oxford Group, in 1955, Wilson acknowledged AAs debt, saying The Oxford Groupers had clearly shown us what to do. And just as importantly, we learned from them not to do
2.
George Mason Memorial
The George Mason Memorial is a national memorial to Founding Father George Mason, the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights that inspired the United States Bill of Rights. The Memorial is located in West Potomac Park within Washington, D. C. at 24 E Basin Drive SW, which is a part of the Tidal Basin. Authorized in 1990, with a groundbreaking in 2000 and dedication in 2002, the memorial includes a sculpture of Mason, a pool, circular hedges, and numerous inscriptions. This is the first memorial to be dedicated not to a president in the Tidal Basin. He was sometimes known as the reluctant statesman, which was the title of a biography written about him by Robert A. Rutland, the memorial was authorized by Public Law 101-358 on August 10,1990, to be developed by the board of regents of Gunston Hall. The landscape architect was Faye B, harwell and the sculptor was Wendy M. Ross. The groundbreaking was October 18,2000, and the memorial was dedicated on April 9,2002. The George Mason Memorial is currently administered as part of the National Park Service and is within the jurisdiction of the National Mall, the George Mason Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, and the D. C.
War Memorial are the only three National Mall sites where weddings are permitted, the memorial is at 900 Ohio drive, one of several outdoor public art installations within Ward 2 of the District. It is located near the intersection of Ohio Drive and East Basin Drive, the site is within the southwest quadrant of the District of Columbia, within West Potomac Park. The memorial is in an area most commonly referred to as the Tidal Basin, the design features a 72-foot long stone wall with a one-third larger than life-sized statue of a sitting Mason, his legs crossed, and a circular pool with a fountain. The circular hedges and pool are supported by a 9 ft ×72 ft trellis that curves around the back of the memorial and that slow poison, which is daily contaminating the minds and morals of our people. Every gentlemen here is born a petty tyrant, practiced in acts of despotism and cruelty, we become callous to the dictates of humanity, and all the finer feelings of the soul. George Mason, July 1773 I recommend it to my sons, George Mason, March 1773 All men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent natural rights.
Among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, George Mason, May 1776 The first declaration of rights which truly deserves the name is that of Virginia. And its author is entitled to the gratitude of mankind. Marquis de Condorcet, Paris 1789 National Park Service, official George Mason Memorial website
3.
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is located in West Potomac Park in Washington, D. C. next to the National Mall. The Memorial covers four acres and includes the Stone of Hope, the memorial opened to the public on August 22,2011, after more than two decades of planning, fund-raising, and construction. The national memorial is Americas 395th unit in the National Park Service, the official address of the monument,1964 Independence Avenue, S. W. commemorates the year the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law. Although this is not the first memorial to an African American in Washington, King is the first African American honored with a memorial on or near the National Mall and only the fourth non-President to be memorialized in such a way. The King Memorial is administered by the National Park Service, although during his life he was monitored by the FBI for presumed communist sympathies, King is now presented as a heroic leader in the history of modern American liberalism. At the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, King imagined an end to racial inequality in his I Have a Dream speech and this speech has been canonized as one of the greatest pieces of American oratory.
In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience. At the time of his death, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and stopping the Vietnam War. King was backing the Memphis Sanitation Strike and organizing a mass occupation of Washington, D. C. – the Poor Peoples Campaign – when he was killed in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4,1968. King remained involved with the fraternity after the completion of his studies, in 1968, after Kings assassination, Alpha Phi Alpha proposed erecting a permanent memorial to King in Washington, D. C. The fraternitys efforts gained momentum in 1986, after Kings birthday was designated a national holiday, in 1998, Congress authorized the fraternity to establish a foundation—the Washington, D. C. National Memorial Project Foundation—to manage the memorials fundraising and design, in 1999, the United States Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission approved the site location for the memorial.
The memorials design, by ROMA Design Group, a San Francisco-based architecture firm, was selected out of 900 candidates from 52 countries. On December 4,2000, a marble and bronze plaque was laid by Alpha Phi Alpha to dedicate the site where the memorial was to be built, soon thereafter, a full-time fundraising team began the fundraising and promotional campaign for the memorial. A ceremonial groundbreaking for the memorial was held on November 13,2006, in August 2008, the foundations leaders estimated the memorial would take 20 months to complete with a total cost of $120 million USD. The figure includes $10 million in matching funds provided by the United States Congress, in October 2009, the memorials final project was approved by federal agencies and a building permit was issued. Construction began in December 2009 and was expected to take 20 months to complete, the foundation conducted a press tour on December 1,2010, as the Stone of Hope was nearing completion. At that time only $108 million of the $120 million project cost had been raised, the street address for the memorial is 1964 Independence Avenue SW in Washington, D. C
4.
Peter Conover Hains
Peter Conover Hains was a major general in the United States Army, and a veteran of the American Civil War, Spanish–American War, and the First World War. He is best known for his efforts, such as the creation of the Tidal Basin in Washington, D. C. Hains was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and he was appointed to the United States Military Academy from New Jersey, and graduated from West Point ranking 19th in the Class of June 1861. Among his classmates were Medal of Honor recipient First Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing, and Major Generals George Custer, USA, commissioned and promoted second and first lieutenant in the 2nd U. S. Artillery on June 24,1861, Hains briefly commanded Battery M, 2nd U. S. Artillery, horse Artillery Brigade, until transferring to the Corps of Topographical Engineers on July 24,1862. He won a promotion to captain on May 22,1862. Less than a later, on March 3,1863. During the Siege of Vicksburg, Hains was cited for meritorious conduct, promoted to captain in the Engineers on July 18, he served out the remainder of the war, and received a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel for his service during the war.
Hains remained with the army following the war, and was promoted to major in September 1870. Much of his notable post-war service was with the U. S. Lighthouse Bureau, among other accomplishments, Hains designed the Morris Island and St. Augustine lighthouses. He became a lieutenant colonel in 1886 and was promoted to colonel in August 1895 and he designed the Tidal Basin in Washington, D. C. thus solving the drainage problems and foul smell of most of the Washington area marshlands. Still in the Army during the Spanish–American War, Hains served as a general of volunteers from August to November 1898. He was promoted to general in the Regular Army on April 21,1903. He successfully lobbied for the construction of the Panama Canal site over one proposed in Nicaragua, Hains retired from active service in 1904, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 64. On August 15,1908, two of his three sons, Peter C, Hains II and Thornton Jenkins Hains, a well-known author of sea stories, were involved in the murder of William E.
Annis at the Bayside Yacht Club, Long Island. The crime, and the subsequent separate trials for the brothers, became one of the cases of its day. Thornton was acquitted in January 1909, Peter was convicted of manslaughter in May 1909 and sent to Sing Sing, the General spent much of his savings financing the defense of his sons. In recognition of his long and distinguished career, General Hains was promoted to general on the retired list in 1916
5.
Geographic Names Information System
It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names to promote the standardization of feature names, the database is part of a system that includes topographic map names and bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the feature or place name are cited, variant names, alternatives to official federal names for a feature, are recorded. Each feature receives a permanent, unique feature record identifier, sometimes called the GNIS identifier, the database never removes an entry, except in cases of obvious duplication. The GNIS accepts proposals for new or changed names for U. S. geographical features, the general public can make proposals at the GNIS web site and can review the justifications and supporters of the proposals. The Bureau of the Census defines Census Designated Places as a subset of locations in the National Geographic Names Database, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28 gives standards for addressing mail.
In this publication, the postal service defines two-letter state abbreviations, street identifiers such as boulevard and street, department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Division, Digital Gazeteer, Users Manual. Least Heat Moon, Blue Highways, A Journey Into America, standard was withdrawn in September 2008, See Federal Register Notice, Vol.73, No. 170, page 51276 Report, Principles and Procedures, Domestic Geographic Names, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28, November 2000. Board on Geographic Names website Geographic Names Information System Proposals from the general public Meeting minutes
6.
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its resources. The organization has four science disciplines, concerning biology, geology. The USGS is a research organization with no regulatory responsibility. The USGS is a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior, the USGS employs approximately 8,670 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. The USGS has major offices near Lakewood, Colorado, at the Denver Federal Center, the current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is science for a changing world. The agencys previous slogan, adopted on the occasion of its anniversary, was Earth Science in the Public Service. Prompted by a report from the National Academy of Sciences, the USGS was created, by a last-minute amendment and it was charged with the classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain.
This task was driven by the need to inventory the vast lands added to the United States by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the legislation provided that the Hayden and Wheeler surveys be discontinued as of June 30,1879. Clarence King, the first director of USGS, assembled the new organization from disparate regional survey agencies, after a short tenure, King was succeeded in the directors chair by John Wesley Powell. Administratively, it is divided into a Headquarters unit and six Regional Units, Other specific programs include, Earthquake Hazards Program monitors earthquake activity worldwide. The National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines detects the location, the USGS runs or supports several regional monitoring networks in the United States under the umbrella of the Advanced National Seismic System. The USGS informs authorities, emergency responders, the media, and it maintains long-term archives of earthquake data for scientific and engineering research.
It conducts and supports research on long-term seismic hazards, USGS has released the UCERF California earthquake forecast. The USGS National Geomagnetism Program monitors the magnetic field at magnetic observatories and distributes magnetometer data in real time, the USGS operates the streamgaging network for the United States, with over 7400 streamgages. Real-time streamflow data are available online, since 1962, the Astrogeology Research Program has been involved in global and planetary exploration and mapping. USGS operates a number of related programs, notably the National Streamflow Information Program. USGS Water data is available from their National Water Information System database
7.
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers, sometimes shortened to CoE is a U. S. Although generally associated with dams and flood protection in the United States, the Corps of Engineers provides outdoor recreation opportunities to the public, and provides 24% of U. S. hydropower capacity. The corps mission is to Deliver vital public and military engineering services, partnering in peace and war to strengthen our Nations security, energize the economy and their most visible missions include, designing and operating locks and dams. Other civil engineering projects include flood control, beach nourishment and construction of flood protection systems through various federal mandates. Design and construction management of military facilities for the Army, Air Force, Army Reserve and Air Force Reserve and other Defense and Federal agencies. The history of United States Army Corps of Engineers can be traced back to 16 June 1775, colonel Richard Gridley became General George Washingtons first chief engineer, however, it was not until 1779 that Congress created a separate Corps of Engineers.
One of its first tasks was to build fortifications near Boston at Bunker Hill, the first Corps of Engineers was mostly composed of French subjects who had been hired by General Washington from the service of Louis XVI. that the said Corps. Shall be stationed at West Point in the State of New York, until 1866, the superintendent of the United States Military Academy was always an officer of engineer. During the first half of the 19th century, West Point was the major and, for a while, the General Survey Act of 1824 authorized the use of Army engineers to survey road and canal routes. Separately authorized on 4 July 1838, the U. S and it was merged with the Corps of Engineers on 31 March 1863, at which point the Corps of Engineers assumed the Lakes Survey District mission for the Great Lakes. In 1841, Congress created the Lake Survey, the survey, based in Detroit, Mich. was charged with conducting a hydrographical survey of the Northern and Northwestern Lakes and preparing and publishing nautical charts and other navigation aids.
The Lake Survey published its first charts in 1852, in the mid-19th century, Corps of Engineers officers ran Lighthouse Districts in tandem with U. S. Naval officers. The Army Corps of Engineers played a significant role in the American Civil War, many of the men who would serve in the top leadership in this institution were West Point graduates who rose to military fame and power during the Civil War. Some of these men were Union Generals George McClellan, Henry Halleck, George Meade, and Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, Joseph Johnston, the versatility of officers in the Army Corps of Engineers contributed to the success of numerous missions throughout the Civil War. They were responsible for building pontoon and railroad bridges and batteries, the destruction of supply lines. The Army Corps of Engineers served as a function in making the war effort logistically feasible. This method of building trenches was known as the zigzag pattern, from the beginning, many politicians wanted the Corps of Engineers to contribute to both military construction and works of a civil nature.
During World War II the mission grew to more than 27,000 military, included were aircraft, tank assembly, and ammunition plants, camps for 5.3 million soldiers, depots and hospitals, as well as the Manhattan Project, and the Pentagon
8.
Body of water
A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water, generally on a planets surface. The term most often refers to oceans and lakes, a body of water does not have to be still or contained, streams and other geographical features where water moves from one place to another are considered bodies of water. Most are naturally occurring geographical features, but some are artificial, there are types that can be either. For example, most reservoirs are created by engineering dams, most harbors are naturally occurring bays, but some harbors have been created through construction. Bodies of water that are navigable are known as waterways, some bodies of water collect and move water, such as rivers and streams, and others primarily hold water, such as lakes and oceans. The term body of water can refer to a reservoir of water held by a plant, note that there are some geographical features involving water that are not bodies of water, for example waterfalls and rapids. Arm of the sea - sea arm, used to describe a sea loch, arroyo - a usually dry creek bed or gulch that temporarily fills with water after a heavy rain, or seasonally.
Artificial lake or artificial pond - see reservoir or impoundment, barachois - a lagoon separated from the ocean by a sand bar. Bay - an area of water bordered by land on three sides, similar to, but smaller than a gulf, bayou - a slow-moving stream or a marshy lake. Bight - a large and often only slightly receding bay, or a bend in any geographical feature, billabong - see Oxbow lake, a pond or still body of water created when a river changes course and some water becomes trapped. Boil - see Seep Brook - a small stream, canal - an artificial waterway, usually connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans. Channel - the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean consisting of a bed. See stream bed and strait, earth scientists generally use the term to describe a circular or round inlet with a narrow entrance, though colloquially the term is sometimes used to describe any sheltered bay. Basin - a region of land where water from rain or snowmelt drains downhill into another body of water, such as a river, creek - an inlet of the sea, narrower than a cove.
Delta - the location where a river flows into an ocean, estuary, distributary or distributary channel - a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Draw - a usually dry creek bed or gulch that temporarily fills with water after a heavy rain, fjord - a submergent landform which has occurred due to glacial activity. Glacier - a large collection of ice or a river that moves slowly down a mountain. Glacial Pothole - see Kettle Gulf - a part of a lake or ocean that extends so that it is surrounded by land on three sides, similar to, but larger than a bay, headland - an area of water bordered by land on three sides
9.
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is an American daily newspaper. It is the most widely circulated newspaper published in Washington, D. C. and was founded on December 6,1877 and its current slogan is Democracy Dies in Darkness. Located in the city of the United States, the newspaper has a particular emphasis on national politics. Daily editions are printed for the District of Columbia, the newspaper is published as a broadsheet, with photographs printed both in color and in black and white. The newspaper has won 47 Pulitzer Prizes and this includes six separate Pulitzers awarded in 2008, the second-highest number ever awarded to a single newspaper in one year, second only to The New York Times seven awards in 2002. Post journalists have received 18 Nieman Fellowships and 368 White House News Photographers Association awards, in years since, its investigations have led to increased review of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In 2013, its owners, the Graham family, sold the newspaper to billionaire entrepreneur.
The newspaper is owned by Nash Holdings LLC, a holding company Bezos created for the acquisition, the Washington Post is generally regarded as one of the leading daily American newspapers, along with The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The Post has distinguished itself through its reporting on the workings of the White House, Congress. It is one of the two daily broadsheets published in Washington D. C. the other being its smaller rival The Washington Times, unlike The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post does not print an edition for distribution away from the East Coast. In 2009, the newspaper ceased publication of its National Weekly Edition, the majority of its newsprint readership is in District of Columbia and its suburbs in Maryland and Northern Virginia. The Sunday Style section differs slightly from the weekday Style section, it is in a tabloid format, and it houses the reader-written humor contest The Style Invitational. Additional weekly sections appear on weekdays, Health & Science on Tuesday, Food on Wednesday, Local Living on Thursday, the latter two are in a tabloid format.
In November 2009, it announced the closure of its U. S. regional bureaus—Chicago, Los Angeles and New York—as part of a focus on. political stories. The newspaper has bureaus in Maryland and Virginia. While its circulation has been slipping, it has one of the highest market-penetration rates of any metropolitan news daily, for many decades, the Post had its main office at 1150 15th Street NW. This real estate remained with Graham Holdings when the newspaper was sold to Jeff Bezos Nash Holdings in 2013, Graham Holdings sold 1150 15th Street for US$159 million in November 2013. The Washington Post continued to lease space at 1150 L Street NW, in May 2014, The Washington Post leased the west tower of One Franklin Square, a high-rise building at 1301 K Street NW in Washington, D. C
10.
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun and the rotation of the Earth. Some shorelines experience a semi-diurnal tide—two nearly equal high and low tides each day, other locations experience a diurnal tide—only one high and low tide each day. A mixed tide—two uneven tides a day, or one high, Tides vary on timescales ranging from hours to years due to a number of factors. To make accurate records, tide gauges at fixed stations measure water level over time, gauges ignore variations caused by waves with periods shorter than minutes. These data are compared to the level usually called mean sea level. Tidal phenomena are not limited to the oceans, but can occur in other systems whenever a gravitational field varies in time. For example, the part of the Earth is affected by tides. Tide changes proceed via the following stages, Sea level rises over several hours, covering the intertidal zone, the water rises to its highest level, reaching high tide.
Sea level falls over several hours, revealing the intertidal zone, the water stops falling, reaching low tide. Oscillating currents produced by tides are known as tidal streams, the moment that the tidal current ceases is called slack water or slack tide. The tide reverses direction and is said to be turning, slack water usually occurs near high water and low water. But there are locations where the moments of slack tide differ significantly from those of high, Tides are commonly semi-diurnal, or diurnal. The two high waters on a day are typically not the same height, these are the higher high water. Similarly, the two low waters each day are the low water and the lower low water. The daily inequality is not consistent and is small when the Moon is over the equator. From the highest level to the lowest, Highest Astronomical Tide – The highest tide which can be predicted to occur, note that meteorological conditions may add extra height to the HAT. Mean High Water Springs – The average of the two high tides on the days of spring tides, mean High Water Neaps – The average of the two high tides on the days of neap tides.
Mean Sea Level – This is the sea level
11.
West Potomac Park
West Potomac Park is a U. S. national park in Washington, D. C. adjacent to the National Mall. It includes the parkland that extends south of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, West Potomac Park is administered by the National Park Service. Almost none of the National Mall west of the Washington Monument grounds, after terrible flooding inundated much of downtown Washington, D. C. In the process, the nearby Babcock Lakes, a series of ponds, were filled in. This reclaimed land — which included West Potomac Park, East Potomac Park, the Tidal Basin — was largely complete by 1890, and designated Potomac Park by Congress in 1897. The famous sakura of Washington line the Tidal Basin and are the main attraction at the National Cherry Blossom Festival in early spring, when the cherry blossoms bloom. Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, upon returning to Washington from a visit to Japan, initiated the idea of trees in Washington, approaching the Superintendent of Public Building. Her idea was rejected, over the next 24 years, Scidmore approached every new superintendent, Fairchild planted these trees on a hillside on his own property in Chevy Chase, testing their hardiness in the Washington area.
In 1907, pleased with the success of the trees, friends of family became interested, and on September 26, arrangements were completed with the Chevy Chase Land Company to order 300 Oriental cherry trees for the Chevy Chase area. In 1908, Fairchild gave cherry saplings to boys from school in the District to plant in schoolyards on Arbor Day. In closing his Arbor Day speech, Fairchild expressed a vision that the Speedway be transformed into a Field of Cherries, in attendance was Eliza Scidmore, whom afterwards he referred to as a great authority on Japan. In 1909, Scidmore decided to try to raise the required to purchase the cherry trees. Two days later, the First Lady responded, The White House, of course, they could not reflect in the water, but the effect would be very lovely of the long avenue. Let me know what you think about this, when told Washington was to have Japanese cherry trees planted along the Speedway, he asked whether the First Lady would accept a donation of an additional 2,000 trees.
Midzuno thought it was an idea and suggested the trees be given in the name of the capital city of Tokyo. Takamine and Midzuno met with the Helen Taft, who accepted the offer, the trees were planted along the Potomac River from the present site of the Lincoln Memorial south toward East Potomac Park. After planting, it was discovered that the trees were not correctly named, and were not of the Fugnezo variety, but instead of the Shirofugen cultivar. Some months later, on August 30, the Japanese embassy informed the U. S. Department of State that Tokyo intended to donate 2,000 cherry trees to the United States to be planted along the Potomac River
12.
Drainage basin
A drainage basin or catchment area is any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water. Drainage basins connect into other drainage basins at elevations in a hierarchical pattern, with smaller sub-drainage basins. Other terms used to describe drainage basins are catchment, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin and water basin. In closed drainage basins the water converges to a point inside the basin, known as a sink, which may be a permanent lake. The drainage basin acts as a funnel by collecting all the water within the covered by the basin. Each drainage basin is separated topographically from adjacent basins by a perimeter, drainage basins are similar but not identical to hydrologic units, which are drainage areas delineated so as to nest into a multi-level hierarchical drainage system. Hydrologic units are defined to allow multiple inlets, outlets, or sinks, in a strict sense, all drainage basins are hydrologic units but not all hydrologic units are drainage basins.
Drainage basins of the oceans and seas of the world. Grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the oceans, the following is a list of the major ocean basins, About 48. 7% of the worlds land drains to the Atlantic Ocean. The two major mediterranean seas of the world flow to the Atlantic, The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico basin includes most of the U. S. The Mediterranean Sea basin includes much of North Africa, east-central Africa, Southern and Eastern Europe and the areas of Israel, Lebanon. Just over 13% of the land in the world drains to the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Oceans drainage basin comprises about 13% of Earths land. It drains the eastern coast of Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, antarctica comprises approximately eight percent of the Earths land. The five largest river basins, from largest to smallest, are the basins of the Amazon, the Río de la Plata, the Congo, the Nile, and the Mississippi. The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, endorheic drainage basins are inland basins that do not drain to an ocean.
Around 18% of all land drains to endorheic lakes or seas or sinks, the largest of these consists of much of the interior of Asia, which drains into the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea, and numerous smaller lakes. Some of these, such as the Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of separate, in endorheic bodies of standing water where evaporation is the primary means of water loss, the water is typically more saline than the oceans. An extreme example of this is the Dead Sea, drainage basins have been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in regions where trade by water has been important
This article incorporates public domain material from the National Park Service document "http://www.nps.gov/nacc/pphtml/subnaturalfeatures19.html".