Triple divide

Not to be confused with Triple junction.

Map showing worldwide drainage basins and triple divides

A triple divide or triple watershed is a point on the Earth's surface where three drainage basins meet. A triple divide results from the intersection of two drainage divides. Triple divides range from prominent mountain peaks to minor side peaks, down to simple slope changes on a ridge which are otherwise unremarkable. The elevation of a triple divide can be thousands of meters to barely above sea level. Triple divides are a common hydrographic feature of any terrain that has rivers, streams and/or lakes.

Topographic triple divides do not necessarily respect the underground path of water. Thus, depending on the infiltration and the different geological layers, the hydrologic triple divide is often offset from the topographic triple divide.

A hydrological apex is a triple divide whose waters flow into three different oceans.

North America

Triple Divide Peak and Snow Dome are major triple divides of North America

Landmark at the triple divide in Potter County, Pennsylvania.

Triple Divide Peak, Montana

Snow Dome, British Columbia

North America has 3 triple divides in the United States which are intersections of continental divides, and a fourth one in British Columbia. Waters at these triple divides flow into three different oceans, seas or gulfs. Triple Divide Peak in Montana is considered the triple divide "hydrological apex" of North America, though Snow Dome on the Alberta-British Columbia border also has a claim depending on how the Arctic and Atlantic oceans are defined. North America is the only continent that has a triple point dividing basins draining into three different oceans. Where the Continental Divide splits and joins to form the boundary of the Great Divide Basin, it forms two triple points.

Triple Divides of North America

Landmark name	Coordinates	Location	Watersheds	Divides	Refs
Triple Divide Peak	48°34′23″N 113°31′00″W	Flathead County, Montana	Columbia River, Mississippi River, Nelson River	Continental Divide of the Americas and Laurentian Divide
Unnamed hill	41°50′48″N 77°50′14″W	Potter County, Pennsylvania	Allegheny River, Susquehanna River, Genesee River	Eastern Continental Divide and Saint Lawrence River Divide
Hill of Three Waters	47°26.863′N 92°56.8′W	approximately 2 miles north of Hibbing, Minnesota	Sturgeon River (Little Fork River tributary), Nelson River watershed, Prairie River (Mississippi River tributary), East Swan River, St. Lawrence River watershed	Saint Lawrence River Divide and Laurentian Divide
Snow Dome	52°11′13″N 117°19′01″W	British Columbia	Columbia River, Mackenzie River, Nelson River	Continental Divide of the Americas and Arctic Divide
Eastern divide termination	30°15.146′N 082°23.578′W)	near Kissimmee, Florida	Kissimmee River, Miami River, Withlacoochee River	endorheic basin of Lake Okeechobee and the Eastern Continental Divide
Great Divide Basin north	42°00′01″N 107°59′02″W	Wyoming, where the Continental Divide spits and joins to form the boudary of the Great Divide Basin	Green River watershed west of basin, draining to the Gulf of California/Pacific Ocean; North Platte watershed east of the basin, draining to the Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean	Continental Divide of the Americas, Great Divide Basin
Great Divide Basin south	33°08′34″N 107°51′16″W	Reeds Peak, New Mexico	Colorado, Rio Grande, Guzman basins	Continental Divide of the Americas, Great Divide Basin
Chihuahua rim, Great Divide Basin south	31°19′56.9″N 108°45′21.5″W	Chihuahua, Mexico	Colorado, Rio Grande, Guzman, Great Divide basin	Continental Divide of the Americas, Great Divide Basin

If the Gulf of California is considered distinct from the Pacific Coastal watershed, the divide between the Colorado River basin and Pacific basin forms two triple points:

• Three Waters Mountain, Wyoming (Colorado, Columbia, Mississippi), 43°23′37″N 109°47′09″W
• Commissary Ridge triple divide, Wyoming (Colorado, Columbia, Great Basin)(42°35′18″N 110°44′09″W)

Other points are often considered to be triple divides because they separate basins of continental rivers.

• Headwaters Hill in Saguache County, Colorado, near Chester (Arkansas River, Rio Grande River, Colorado River). This point has only a weak claim to being a continental triple divide because both the Rio Grande and Arkansas Rivers flow into the Gulf of Mexico. (38°20′52″N 106°15′11″W)

The highest elevation (4,040 m or 13,240 ft) significant triple divide in the lower 48 states of the United States, located in Kings Canyon National Park in Fresno/Inyo counties, California, is a sub-peak of Mount Wallace of the central Sierra Nevada:

• Crumbly Spire or Mount Wallace South Peak, Fresno/Inyo counties, California (South Fork San Joaquin River, San Joaquin River, Owens River) (37°08′28″N 118°39′15″W)

Numerous other triple divide points result from intersection of river basin divides, including:

• Young Lick Knob, Georgia (Savannah, Apalachicola, Mississippi) (34°49′22″N 83°39′09″W)

Continental Divide of the Americas in South America

South America

There are triple points in South America where the divide splits.

Europe

Landmark at Lunghin Pass in Grisons, Switzerland.

• Witenwasserenstock, Switzerland: (Po, Rhine, Rhône) (46°31′41.9″N 8°28′27.3″E)
• Lunghin Pass/Piz Lunghin, Switzerland: (Danube, Po, Rhine), 46°24′48.71″N 9°39′48.53″E)
• Langres Plateau, France: the exact point is at 47°56′29.2″N 5°30′17.2″E (Meuse-Rhine to North Sea, Seine to the Channel, Tille-Saône-Rhône to Mediterranean Sea)
• Morgan's Hill, England, 51°24′12″N 1°57′41″W
• Trójmorski Wierch (formerly Klepáč) in Snieznik Mountains, Sudetes, border of the Czech Republic and Poland: (Morava=>Danube to the Black Sea, Orlice=>Elbe to the North Sea, Nysa=>Oder to the Baltic Sea), 50°09′27.01″N 16°47′27″E

Africa

• An unnamed hill on the border between the Central African Republic and South Sudan: the exact point is at 09°08′24″N 23°28′07″E (Congo, Nile, Lake Chad). At this point meet the second, third and eighth largest drainage basins in the world, making it one of the most important triple divides on earth.

Australia

Australia has two Continental Drainage Divide Tripoints, both close to each other along Queensland's Great Dividing Range. Both are named after two 1845 exploration party leaders who sought to solve the question of Australia's rivers, Thomas Mitchell and Edmund Kennedy. Both Tripoints are considered Hydrological Apex Points falling to major oceans and basins.

• Mitchell Junction is in North Queensland, on Triple C Pastoral Station, near the White Mountains National Park. Water falling on the tripoint can flow either to the Pacific Ocean via the Burdekin River, to the Indian Ocean, via the Flinders River flowing to the Gulf Of Carpentaria and the Indonesian Throughflow and lastly to Lake Eyre via Cooper Creek. approximately 20°20′58″S 145°03′17″E
• Kennedy Junction is in Central Queensland, on Caldervale Station, near Carnarvon National Park. Water falling on the tripoint can flow either to the Pacific Ocean via the Fitzroy River, to the Southern Ocean, via Murray/Darling River and to Lake Eyre via Cooper Creek. 24°55′22″S 146°49′27″E

Asia

Asia is dominated by endorheic basins. There is a point in southern China where the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and endorheic basins meet and another point in northern China where the Pacific Ocean, endorheic and Arctic Ocean basins meet.

Antarctica

The Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans touch the shores of Antarctica. Dome Argus is the highest point in the East Antarctic ice sheet and could be considered a triple divide if you assume that the ice forms a watershed. (80°22′S 77°21′E)

See also

• Continental divide

References

• Joseph A. DiPietro (2012-12-21). Landscape Evolution in the United States: An Introduction to the Geography, Geology, and Natural History. Newnes.