The "drainage basin" to where water from tributaries, streams, and rivers flow.

​

​Watershed

These are smaller streams that meet up with a main river.

​

Tributaries

Basins are separated by HIGH ELEVATION. Every watershed has a boundary known as the DRAINAGE DIVIDE - the outermost limit of the watershed.

Basin

All the rivers, streams, tributaries, and creeks within a watershed.

River System

​North Carolina is divided into three regions:
Mountains
Piedmont
Coastal

The Coastal Plain is often divided into the Inner Coastal Plain and the Tidewater.

​

North Carolina Regions

Notice the FALL LINE!

This is the watershed divide. On one side of the mountain range, the waters flow toward the Atlantic. On the other side of the mountain range, the water flows inland becoming part of the Mississippi River Watershed.

​

North Carolina Regions

​Rivers MEANDER, or wind back and forth. The area around a river is considered a floodplain and is typically nutrient rich because the water picks up nutrients on its journey.

FLOODPLAINS contain wetlands.

River System Features

​RIVER MOUTH

Where the river meets the larger body of water.

​

​DELTA

Often formed at the mouth of a river where there is a widening and slowing of water flow.

​

​ESTUARY

In this diagram, the estuaries would most likely be found within the DELTA.

​

WETLANDS

In this diagram, the wetlands are the salt marshes. They have a mixture of salt and fresh water. The level of water fluctuates based on the tides of the larger body of water. In the case of North Carolina, that larger body of water would be the Atlantic Ocean.

​