Significance of Water Divide
These divisions can occur due to the valleys, and districts that cause tribes and groups of people to settle in banks. The importance of the water divide is as follows:
- It forms a boundary between the two valleys. Precipitation is received separately from both valleys. This prevents the two bodies of water from interfering with each other and flowing separately.
- Sometimes water divide can form natural boundaries that can be defined as political boundaries between two countries or two cities of a particular country.
Examples of Water Divide
One of the famous examples is the Western Ghats. The Western Ghats are mountains that run parallel to the west coast of the Indian Peninsula and are entirely in India. It forms the Major basin on the peninsula. Most of the major rivers on the peninsula, such as the Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri rivers, flow east and fall into the Bay of Bengal. Several small streams and rivers, such as Savitri, Terekhol, Periyar, Pamba, Netravali, Sharavathi, etc. flow west of the Western Ghats into the Arabian Sea.
The Western Ghats can be considered an example of the Continental Water Divide because the water basins on both sides of it fall into different water bodies or seas. Other examples of Water Divide are as follows:
- Ambala City: Ambala district of Haryana serves as the water divide between the Ganga River Basin and the Indus River Basin.
- Vindhya Range: Vindhya Range divides the Ganga Drainage Basin and Narmada River Valley.
- Himalayas Range: The mountain Himalayas acts as a water divide because it separates the rivers flowing in the Himalayan ranges and the rivers flowing in the Trans Himalayan ranges.
- Satpura Range: Satpura Range is a water divide that divides the Narmada River Valley and Tapi drainage basin.
Related Links
Types and Significance of Water Divide
Any elevated area or highlands or uplands, such as a mountain, a hill, a plateau, a terrain, or any other land area higher than the land in its surrounding, separates the two water basins and divides the basin into two parts. Such highlands are known as the water divide. Water divides are also known by various names such as watersheds, ridgeline, water parting, and land elevations.
On rugged lands, the splits are along the ridges of the terrain and can take the form of a single chain of hills or mountains known as dividing ranges or split chains.