Interior Drainage Basins: Endorheic Systems and Dry Lakebeds
Interior Drainage Basins
Interior Drainage Basins
World Drainage Basins
•
Drainage basins of the principal oceans and seas of the
world. Grey areas are endorheic (interior drainage) basins
that do not drain to the ocean.
Interior Drainage (Endorheic) Basins
•
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, and drains into the
Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea. Other endorheic regions
include the Great Basin in the United States, much of the
Sahara Desert, the watershed of the Okavango River
(Kalahari Basin), highlands near the African Great Lakes,
the interiors of Australia and the Arabian Peninsula, and
parts in Mexico and the Andes. Some of these, such as the
Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections
of separate, adjacent closed basins.
•
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 is the
Dead Sea.
Dry Lakebeds
•
Playas (salt flats) and Salars are interior
drainage basins where there is insufficient to
maintain a permanent body of water due to
evaporation in excess of precipitation and/or
from humans diverting water from the
streams that flow into the basin in quantities
great enough to prevent the maintenance of a
permanent water body in the basin.
Visualization:
Interior
drainage
basin in
Central Asia
Tarim Basin, western China
Caspaian Sea –
the world’s
largest
endorheic
water body.
Badwater Basin (Death Valley, CA) – dry
lakebed (no continuous body of water)
Great Salt
Lake in
Utah is
shrinking
and will
become a
dry lakebed
eventually.
Lake Titicaca, the
Salar de Uyuni,
and the Salar de
Coipasa (Salars
are dry lakebeds).
These are all
parts of the
Altiplano in Peru
and Bolivia.
Lake Titicaca
Salars
Explore the concept of interior drainage basins, including endorheic systems that do not drain to oceans but instead to closed basins. Learn about regions like the Great Basin, Sahara Desert, and Tarim Basin in China. Discover dry lakebeds such as the Great Salt Lake in Utah and Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. Visualize Central Asian drainage basins and understand the impact of evaporation on water bodies in these unique landscapes.
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Presentation Transcript
World Drainage Basins Drainage basins of the principal oceans and seas of the world. Grey areas are endorheic (interior drainage) basins that do not drain to the ocean.
Interior Drainage (Endorheic) Basins 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, and drains into the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea. Other endorheic regions include the Great Basin in the United States, much of the Sahara Desert, the watershed of the Okavango River (Kalahari Basin), highlands near the African Great Lakes, the interiors of Australia and the Arabian Peninsula, and parts in Mexico and the Andes. Some of these, such as the Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of separate, adjacent closed basins. 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 is the Dead Sea.
Dry Lakebeds Playas (salt flats) and Salars are interior drainage basins where there is insufficient to maintain a permanent body of water due to evaporation in excess of precipitation and/or from humans diverting water from the streams that flow into the basin in quantities great enough to prevent the maintenance of a permanent water body in the basin.
Visualization: Interior drainage basin in Central Asia
Caspaian Sea the world s largest endorheic water body.
Badwater Basin (Death Valley, CA) dry lakebed (no continuous body of water)
Great Salt Lake in Utah is shrinking and will become a dry lakebed eventually.
Lake Titicaca, the Salar de Uyuni, and the Salar de Coipasa (Salars are dry lakebeds). These are all parts of the Altiplano in Peru and Bolivia. Lake Titicaca Salars
