Difference Between River Basin and Watershed

River Basin vs  Watershed

Water is one of the most important parts of the Earth’s ecosystem. It is the component that is very necessary for the growth of all living things, and bodies of water such as rivers and oceans are the homes of many aquatic plants and animals without which our ecological balance would be jeopardized.
Water can take many forms, either as a solid, liquid, or gas, but it is more common to see water in its liquid form. We see water in oceans, seas, lakes, streams, ponds, and rivers. Rivers are the foundations of most human settlements; many communities are situated near river systems or river basins.
A river basin is also known as a catchment area, drainage basin, or catchment basin. It can have smaller sub-basins that combine to form a larger water basin. When rain falls or when ice and snow melts, the water that comes from them flows towards a river basin before exiting towards the river, lakes, oceans, or sea.
River basins are usually separated by ridges, mountains, and hills. The water that comes from different sources, such as rivers, ponds, creeks, rainfall, or melting snow and ice flows through them and into the water basin and out into another body of water, usually a larger one.

These landforms are called watersheds which are the divides or elevations that separate the river basin or catchment area. They are also known as drainage divides because they divide the river system or river basins from other river systems. A watershed is also a term that is being used in the North American region to refer to a water basin which is smaller in size and flows into a smaller outlet such as a stream or wetland. Watersheds are considered part of a water basin. In other regions of the world, watersheds are the drainage divides that cut through a river system.
While both a river basin and a watershed are land forms, they have different functions in our ecology. One collects water from different sources like the water that comes from the drainage of homes, water from rainfall, and other surface water and moisture. The other divides the river basin or collection point where all the water from different sources converges.
Summary:

1.A river basin is a body of land where water from different sources converge while a watershed may also mean the same as a water basin, but it also refers to the drainage divide or land form that divides river systems.
2.A river basin drains out towards a larger body of water such as the ocean or the sea while a watershed may drain towards a smaller body of water if it is referred to as a water basin.
3.A river basin collects water and moisture from different sources, such as those that come from the drainage systems of homes, and drains them out into other bodies of water while a watershed divides the river basins or collection points that contain the water that is collected.

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