Stuart Guan What is a watershed An area of land that separates water flow to different rivers basins or seas Major Watersheds North and Central America Loss of Original Forest Cover Mississippi Basin ID: 526210
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Slide1
Nathan Chen
Stuart GuanSlide2
What is a watershed?An area of land that separates water flow to different rivers, basins, or seasSlide3
Major WatershedsSlide4
North and Central America
Loss of Original Forest Cover Slide5
Mississippi Basin
Watershed encompasses 40% of the U.S.The Mississippi River is the largest and longest in terms of discharge (Average 17,330 m
3
/sec)
World’s second largest basin
Greatest concern today is “The Dead Zone”
The problem is nutrient load generated less oxygen
Possible solutions include improved farm management and restoration of forest and wetlands removing the excess nutrients. Slide6
South America
Water Supply per Person (m3/person/year)Slide7
Amazon BasinContains 1/5 of the worlds fresh water
Flows 12 times faster than Mississippi RiverTropical Rain Forest supplies over half of the planet’s oxygenHigh point
in the
watershed (the
peak of
Yerupajá
)[6,635
m]
Water flows from Pacific Ocean forming the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean
Outstanding Animal life > 5,000 species Slide8
Africa
Average Population Density (people per sq. km)Slide9
Turkana Basin
Northern Kenya and Southern EthiopiaLake Turkana supports the wildlife and locals
Ineffective drainage becoming an arid scrubland
Increased evolutionary plant life of C4 plants
Most sensitive area to temperature and influx of weather
No transboundary agreement with the other larger basin nearby stressing Lake Turkana
Area – the cradle of mankindSlide10
Europe
Number of Fish SpeciesSlide11
Tigris & Euphrates Basin
Monstrous fish weighing as much as 300
lbs
Economic life dependent on the rivers and the oil revenues of Iraq
Lots of desiccated marshland and soil nutrient depletion
Lack of international agreement Turkey’s dams reduced water flow into Iraq
Tensions run high on water management
GAP project (22 dams and 19 hydropower plant) splitSlide12
Asia and Oceania
Percent Irrigated CroplandSlide13
Yangtze Basin
Area = 1.81 million sq. km
Food staple of China – Rice for 1.3 billion people
Fertile soil highly favorable to agriculture
Contributes to > half of China’s crop production (2/3) is rice
Severe droughts and irregular rainfall result in crop loss
Solution - modern irrigation projects like the Three Gorges Project Slide14
Web Sources http://www.unep.org/pdf/UNEP_GEAS_JUNE_2013.pdf
http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1024-amazon.htmlhttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/06/070619-amazon-river.htmlhttp://
global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/18722/Amazon-River
http://
multimedia.wri.org/watersheds_2003/index.html
http://
www.waterencyclopedia.com/Mi-Oc/Mississippi-River-Basin.html
http://www.academia.edu/7277108/Variations_in_water_level_for_Lake_Turkana_in_the_past_8500_years_near_Mt._Porr_Kenya_and_the_transition_from_the_African_Humid_Period_to_Holocene_aridity._
Quaternary_Science_Reviews_97_84-101
http://
www.futuredirections.org.au/publications/food-and-water-crises/678-water-shortage-crisis-escalating-in-the-tigris-euphrates-basin.html
http://
www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/651857/Yangtze-River/48044/People
http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/173855/