What is the drainage basin of the Mississippi River?

What is the drainage basin of the Mississippi River?

The Mississippi River has the world’s fourth-largest drainage basin (“watershed” or “catchment”). The basin covers more than 1,245,000 square miles (3,220,000 km2), including all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The drainage basin empties into the Gulf of Mexico, part of the Atlantic Ocean.

Where is the drainage basin of the Mississippi?

The Mississippi River flows 3,778 kilometers from Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota to its delta in southern Louisiana. Its river basin starts in southern Ohio and ends on the coasts of Louisiana, draining 4.76 million square kilometers.

What type of drainage pattern is the Mississippi River?

classic dendritic pattern
The most common drainage pattern along the Mississippi and its tributaries is the classic dendritic pattern, which looks similar to the branching pattern of a tree.

What are the 5 drainage basins?

Drainage basins are defined by topographical features, called drainage divides, which determine the direction the water flows. Canada has six major drainage basins: the Arctic, Pacific, Western Hudson Bay and Mississippi, South and East Hudson Bay, Great Lakes–St Lawrence and Atlantic.

How many states drain into the Mississippi?

31 states
Water from parts or all of 31 states drains into the Mississippi River, and creates a drainage basin over 1,245,000 square miles in size.

Where is the head of the Mississippi River?

Lake Itasca
Lake Itasca is a small glacial lake, approximately 1.8 square miles (4.7 km2; 1,200 acres) in area. Located in southeastern Clearwater County, in the Headwaters area of north central Minnesota, it is notable for being the headwater of the Mississippi River. The lake is in Itasca State Park.

How many drainage basins are connected to the Mississippi River?

Water from parts or all of 31 states drains into the Mississippi River, and creates a drainage basin over 1,245,000 square miles in size.

Which area is drained by the river Mississippi?

The Mississippi River and its tributaries drain all or part of 31 U.S. states and two provinces in Canada, an area of approximately 1.2 million square miles (3.1 million square km), or about one-eighth of the entire continent.

What is the biggest drainage basin in the world?

The Amazon Basin
The Amazon Basin, in northern South America, is the largest in the world. The Amazon River and all of its tributaries drain an area more than 7 million square kilometers (about 3 million square miles).

How big is the whole drainage basin of the Mississippi?

Water from parts or all of 31 states drains into the Mississippi River, and creates a drainage basin over 1,245,000 square miles in size. Before reaching the Gulf, the Mississippi meets up with its distributary, the Atchafalaya River.

Why is the drainage basin so important?

Historically, drainage basins have been important in determining boundaries especially in regions where trade by water is their source of living. In ecology, drainage basin is an important source of nutrients, sediments and pollutants from the water flowing through the drainage and river.

What is the largest drainage basin in the US?

iveThe Mississippi river system is the largest drainage basin in the North America, draining 41% of the states of America. It flows through the heart of United States.

Where is the drainage basin in the Mississippi River?

The stream is entirely within the United States (although its drainage basin reaches into Canada), its source is Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota and it flows generally south for 2,320 miles (3,730 km) to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico.