Drainage basin

How it is used

Used in hydrology, water management and geomorphology. British English also says catchment or catchment area; American English often says watershed. The boundary between two basins is the drainage divide.

Example sentences

1. The Kızılırmak drainage basin covers a large part of central Anatolia.

2. Pollution anywhere in the drainage basin can end up in the river.

Common collocations

• drainage basin area
• river drainage basin
• drainage divide
• catchment area

Related terms

• runoffWater from rain or melting snow that flows over the ground surface into streams and rivers instead of soaking into the soil.
• water cycleThe continuous movement of water between the oceans, the atmosphere and the land through evaporation, condensation, precipitation and runoff.
• precipitationWater that falls from clouds to the ground as rain, snow, sleet or hail. It is usually measured in millimetres per day, month or year.
• floodplainThe flat land beside a river that is covered with water when the river floods, built up from the fine sediment the river leaves behind.

More terms: Water Cycle & Hydrology

• groundwater
• aquifer
• water table
• evaporation
• permeable