Question

A line which separates two adjacent drainage basins is known as _________.
A) escarpment
B) water divide
C) drainage system
D) none of these

Answer 1

Hint: A drainage basin is any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water and it includes all the surface water from rain runoff, snowmelt, hail, sleet and nearby streams that run down the slope towards the shared outlet, as well as the groundwater underneath the surface of the earth.

Complete answer:
Let us analyze the given options:
Option A) Escarpment: The above option is incorrect as a water divide, drainage divide, divide, ridgeline, watershed, or water parting is the line that separates neighboring drainage basins. Whereas an escarpment is an area of the Earth where elevation changes suddenly and also it usually refers to the bottom of a cliff or a steep slope.

Option B) Water divide: The above option is correct as a water divide, drainage divide, divide, ridgeline, watershed, or water parting is the line that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rough land, the divide lies along topographical ridges and maybe in the form of a single range of hills or mountains, known as a dividing range.

Option C) Drainage system: The above option is incorrect as a water divide, drainage divide, divide, ridgeline, watershed, or water parting is the line that separates neighboring drainage basins. Whereas a drainage system or a river system, is the pattern formed by the streams, rivers, and lakes in a particular drainage basin.

Option D) None of these: The above option is incorrect as a water divide, drainage divide, divide, ridgeline, watershed, or water parting is the line that separates neighboring drainage basins. Hence, this option is invalid.

So, option ‘B’ water divide is correct. A line which separates two adjacent drainage basins is known as water divide.

Note: A triple divide is a point, regularly a culmination, where three drainage basins meet. A valley floor divide is a low seepage partition that runs across a valley, sometimes made by deposition or stream capture. Significant divides isolating waterways that channel to various oceans or seas are called continental divides. The term height of land is utilized in Canada and the United States to refer to a seepage partition. It is as often as possible utilized in border depictions, which are set by the "doctrine of natural boundaries". In glaciated regions, it regularly refers to a depressed spot on a divide where it is feasible to portage a canoe starting with one stream framework then onto the next.