Continental Divide

Continental Divide A series of mountain ridges extending from Alaska to Mexico that forms the watershed of North America. Most of it runs along peaks of the Rocky Mountains and is often called the Great Divide in the United States.

Continental Divide

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continental divide

n.

An extensive stretch of high ground from each side of which the river systems of a continent flow in opposite directions.

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continental divide

A region of high ground, from each side of which the river systems of a continent flow into different continental-scale drainage basins. In North America, the Continental Divide is a series of mountain ridges stretching from Alaska to Mexico, marking the separation of drainage basins that empty into the Pacific Ocean or Bering Sea from those that empty into the Arctic or Atlantic Oceans or the Gulf of Mexico.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

continental divide - the watershed of a continent (especially the watershed of North America formed by a series of mountain ridges extending from Alaska to Mexico) water parting, watershed, divide - a ridge of land that separates two adjacent river systems Great Divide - that part of the continental divide formed by the Rocky Mountains in the United States North America - a continent (the third largest) in the western hemisphere connected to South America by the Isthmus of Panama