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50-527: Most of the river's 60-square-mile (160 km) watershed is in the Ventana Wilderness of the Los Padres National Forest . Precipitation increases with altitude at Big Sur and the higher elevations can receive over 50 inches (1,300 mm) per year, about 10 inches (250 mm) more than lower areas. The average yearly runoff on the river is 65,000 acre-feet (80,000,000 m). It is

100-484: A sink , which may be a permanent lake, a dry lake , or a point where surface water is lost underground . Drainage basins are similar but not identical to hydrologic units , which are drainage areas delineated so as to nest into a multi-level hierarchical drainage system . Hydrologic units are defined to allow multiple inlets, outlets, or sinks. In a strict sense, all drainage basins are hydrologic units but not all hydrologic units are drainage basins. About 48.71% of

150-414: A watershed , though in other English-speaking places, "watershed" is used only in its original sense, that of the drainage divide line. A drainage basin's boundaries are determined by watershed delineation , a common task in environmental engineering and science. In a closed drainage basin, or endorheic basin , rather than flowing to the ocean, water converges toward the interior of the basin, known as

200-449: A drainage basin, and there are different ways to interpret that data. In the unlikely event that the gauges are many and evenly distributed over an area of uniform precipitation, using the arithmetic mean method will give good results. In the Thiessen polygon method, the drainage basin is divided into polygons with the rain gauge in the middle of each polygon assumed to be representative for

250-540: A drainage boundary is referred to as watershed delineation . Finding the area and extent of a drainage basin is an important step in many areas of science and engineering. Most of the water that discharges from the basin outlet originated as precipitation falling on the basin. A portion of the water that enters the groundwater system beneath the drainage basin may flow towards the outlet of another drainage basin because groundwater flow directions do not always match those of their overlying drainage network. Measurement of

300-519: A single pit toilet designed to support 20 visitors. Some visitors reported that unburied human feces were readily visible. Many visitors to Sykes are unaware that unlike state parks, the wilderness camp site does not provide garbage service. Unprepared for the difficult hike, they abandon trash and gear at Sykes, which encourages others to do the same. Richard Popchak of the Ventana Wilderness Alliance reported that, "The U.S. Forest Service

350-564: A single point, such as a river mouth , or flows into another body of water , such as a lake or ocean . A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the drainage divide , made up of a succession of elevated features, such as ridges and hills . A basin may consist of smaller basins that merge at river confluences , forming a hierarchical pattern . Other terms for a drainage basin are catchment area , catchment basin , drainage area , river basin , water basin , and impluvium . In North America, they are commonly called

400-414: Is a hot springs. Small pools were built to impound the water above the riverbank but these were destroyed by floods in 2017–18. The USFS stated that the man-made tubs were illegal impoundments that are inconsistent with the intention of a wilderness experience and will not allow them to be rebuilt. From Sykes, the trail crosses the river, and 3 miles (4.8 km) later reaches Redwood Camp, situated along

450-480: Is referred to as " watershed management ". In Brazil , the National Policy of Water Resources, regulated by Act n° 9.433 of 1997, establishes the drainage basin as the territorial division of Brazilian water management. When a river basin crosses at least one political border, either a border within a nation or an international boundary, it is identified as a transboundary river . Management of such basins becomes

500-600: Is the Dead Sea . Drainage basins have been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in regions where trade by water has been important. For example, the English crown gave the Hudson's Bay Company a monopoly on the fur trade in the entire Hudson Bay basin, an area called Rupert's Land . Bioregional political organization today includes agreements of states (e.g., international treaties and, within

550-467: Is within the Ventana Wilderness and alongside the protected Big Sur River . The challenging trail to the camp from the coast has been littered with abandoned backpacks and tents, bras, jackets, food wrappers, water bottles, and toilet paper. The campsite and hot springs were at times very crowded, especially on holidays and weekends. Over 200 people have been counted camping near the river, although there are only seven officially designated campsites and

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600-675: Is woefully underfunded and understaffed. In the Monterey Ranger District, they have not employed a Wilderness Ranger since the 1980s." The Los Padres Forest and Ventana Wilderness around Sykes Camp were closed as a result of the Soberanes Fire in June 2017. During a heavy winter storm in 2016–2017, the Pine Ridge Trail to Sykes Camp was severely damaged and completely destroyed in several places. The man-made improvements that captured

650-682: The African Great Lakes , the interiors of Australia and the Arabian Peninsula , and parts in Mexico and the Andes . Some of these, such as the Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of separate, adjacent closed basins. In endorheic bodies of water where evaporation is the primary means of water loss, the water is typically more saline than the oceans. An extreme example of this

700-792: The Continental Divide , northern Alaska and parts of North Dakota , South Dakota , Minnesota , and Montana in the United States, the north shore of the Scandinavian peninsula in Europe, central and northern Russia, and parts of Kazakhstan and Mongolia in Asia , which totals to about 17% of the world's land. Just over 13% of the land in the world drains to the Pacific Ocean . Its basin includes much of China, eastern and southeastern Russia, Japan,

750-681: The Korean Peninsula , most of Indochina, Indonesia and Malaysia, the Philippines, all of the Pacific Islands , the northeast coast of Australia , and Canada and the United States west of the Continental Divide (including most of Alaska), as well as western Central America and South America west of the Andes. The Indian Ocean 's drainage basin also comprises about 13% of Earth's land. It drains

800-495: The chaparral is found, a scrub community often dominated by chamise and manzanita . Grassland and open pine forest are found on a few ridgetops. The popular 26 miles (42 km) Pine Ridge Trail follows the Big Sur River for several miles inland. Several backcountry camps are located along the river, including Ventana Camp, Barlow Flat Camp, and Sykes Camp. Near Sykes Camp , approximately 10 miles (16 km) inland, there

850-573: The groundwater . A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. Sykes Camp Sykes Camp is located 10 miles (16 km) from the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park trailhead along the Pine Ridge Trail . There were seven campsites along both sides of the Big Sur River upstream and downstream from where

900-575: The Forest Service announced that trail crews were restoring and partially rerouting the Pine Ridge Trail. As of December 2020 , the trail and adjoining campsites were closed. In March 2023, most of the trail was open except for the section of trail from Ventana Camp to Terrace Creek was closed. The area was populated before the arrival of European settlers by the Esselen people, and their use of

950-632: The U.S. Forest Service and volunteers due to ongoing needs for visitor education, overuse, fire restriction enforcement, and the chronic need to clean-up after careless visitors and pack out hundreds of pounds of trash and abandoned gear. The pools were wiped out by heavy rains during the 2017-18 winter. In January 2020, the Forest Service stated that it would not allow the hot spring impoundments to be rebuilt. "The hot tubs are not going to be allowed back," Forest Service spokesperson Lynn Olson stated. The artificial structures violate wilderness ethics and laws that do not permit man-made structures. Sykes Camp

1000-581: The US Forest Service measured the maximum run off in February at 41,860 acre-feet (51,630,000 m), and the minimum at 1,050 acre-feet (1,300,000 m). The total runoff was 126,200 acre-feet (155,700,000 m). In the late 1800s, the Ventana Power Company operated a sawmill near present-day Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. They began planning to build a dam on the Big Sur River just downstream of

1050-598: The US, interstate compacts ) or other political entities in a particular drainage basin to manage the body or bodies of water into which it drains. Examples of such interstate compacts are the Great Lakes Commission and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency . In hydrology , the drainage basin is a logical unit of focus for studying the movement of water within the hydrological cycle . The process of finding

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1100-406: The basin, it can form tributaries that change the structure of the land. There are three different main types, which are affected by the rocks and ground underneath. Rock that is quick to erode forms dendritic patterns, and these are seen most often. The two other types of patterns that form are trellis patterns and rectangular patterns. Rain gauge data is used to measure total precipitation over

1150-424: The camp was impacted by the heavy rains and resultant flooding (following the Soberanes Fire ) during the 2017-18 winter, there were seven campsites along both sides of the Big Sur River , both upstream and downstream from where the trail intersects the river. There was a pit toilet downstream of this intersection. There were before the closure in 2017 three small man-made rock and concrete impoundments that trapped

1200-469: The confluence of Ventana Creek and the Big Sur River. They hoped to sell the electricity to the City of Monterey. They built a diversion channel along the Big Sur River, but the 1906 San Francisco earthquake bankrupted the company and they abandoned the project. The stonework from the diversion channel is still visible. A 19.5 miles (31.4 km) stretch of the river is designated as a Wild and Scenic River , from

1250-430: The discharge of water from a basin may be made by a stream gauge located at the basin's outlet. Depending on the conditions of the drainage basin, as rainfall occurs some of it seeps directly into the ground. This water will either remain underground, slowly making its way downhill and eventually reaching the basin, or it will permeate deeper into the soil and consolidate into groundwater aquifers. As water flows through

1300-441: The drainage area is dependent on the soil type. Certain soil types such as sandy soils are very free-draining, and rainfall on sandy soil is likely to be absorbed by the ground. However, soils containing clay can be almost impermeable and therefore rainfall on clay soils will run off and contribute to flood volumes. After prolonged rainfall even free-draining soils can become saturated , meaning that any further rainfall will reach

1350-692: The drainage basin to the mouth, and may accumulate there, disturbing the natural mineral balance. This can cause eutrophication where plant growth is accelerated by the additional material. Because drainage basins are coherent entities in a hydrological sense, it has become common to manage water resources on the basis of individual basins. In the U.S. state of Minnesota , governmental entities that perform this function are called " watershed districts ". In New Zealand, they are called catchment boards. Comparable community groups based in Ontario, Canada, are called conservation authorities . In North America, this function

1400-821: The eastern coast of Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf , the Indian subcontinent , Burma, and most parts of Australia . The five largest river basins (by area), from largest to smallest, are those of the Amazon (7 million km ), the Congo (4 million km ), the Nile (3.4 million km ), the Mississippi (3.22 million km ), and the Río de la Plata (3.17 million km ). The three rivers that drain

1450-410: The flow of a hot spring carved out of the southern hillside about .25 miles (0.40 km) downstream from where the trail intersects the river. The largest of the hot springs pools, adjacent to the river, was about 8 feet (2.4 m) across and about 2 feet (0.61 m) deep, suitable for about four adults. The temperature was 100 °F (38 °C) depending on rain. According to the Forest Service,

1500-567: The greatest portion of western Sub-Saharan Africa , as well as Western Sahara and part of Morocco . The two major mediterranean seas of the world also flow to the Atlantic. The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico basin includes most of the U.S. interior between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains , a small part of the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan , eastern Central America ,

1550-435: The ground and along rivers it can pick up nutrients , sediment , and pollutants . With the water, they are transported towards the outlet of the basin, and can affect the ecological processes along the way as well as in the receiving water body . Modern use of artificial fertilizers , containing nitrogen (as nitrates ), phosphorus , and potassium , has affected the mouths of drainage basins. The minerals are carried by

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1600-744: The ground at its terminus, the area can go by several names, such playa, salt flat, dry lake , or alkali sink . The largest endorheic basins are in Central Asia , including the Caspian Sea , the Aral Sea , and numerous smaller lakes. Other endorheic regions include the Great Basin in the United States, much of the Sahara Desert , the drainage basin of the Okavango River ( Kalahari Basin ), highlands near

1650-466: The headwaters of its north and south forks downstream to the boundary of the Ventana Wilderness. The vegetation of the watershed is diverse. Along the main river canyon and many side tributaries grow riparian species such as California sycamore and white alder . Extensive stands of old-growth redwood trees tower above moist canyons and north-facing slopes below approximately 2400 ft. Above

1700-427: The hot springs in pools were removed by the high-flowing river. As of August 2018 , the trail was blocked by multiple washouts along creeks and dozens of fallen trees across the path. Reopening the trail requires an environmental assessment and perhaps re-routing the trail. The trail was closed indefinitely. Entering the closed areas could result in a penalty of $ 5,000 and/or six months in jail. In January, 2020,

1750-597: The inaccessible coast. Instead, they cut a trail inland through the San Antonio and Salinas Valleys before arriving at Monterey Bay , where they founded Monterey and named it their capital. The Spanish referred to the vast, relatively unexplored, coastal region to the south as el país grande del sur , meaning "the big country of the south". This was often shortened to el sur grande . The two major rivers were named El Rio Grande del Sur (Big Sur River) and El Rio Chiquito del Sur (Little Sur River) . The first recorded use of

1800-619: The islands of the Caribbean and the Gulf, and a small part of northern South America. The Mediterranean Sea basin, with the Black Sea , includes much of North Africa , east-central Africa (through the Nile River ), Southern , Central, and Eastern Europe , Turkey , and the coastal areas of Israel , Lebanon , and Syria . The Arctic Ocean drains most of Western Canada and Northern Canada east of

1850-604: The largest river by volume on the Big Sur coast. Water is diverted to a small group of homeowners, and the state claims that wells owned by the El Sur Ranch are diverting underflow from the river. There are no dams or reservoirs . While exploring Alta California , the Portolá expedition arrived at San Carpóforo Canyon near present-day San Simeon on September 13, 1769. After two days of attempts, they decided they could not proceed up

1900-520: The man-made tubs were illegal impoundments that are inconsistent with the intention of a wilderness experience. The U.S. Forest Service proposed asking rangers or volunteers to remove, and discouraging visitors from rebuilding, the containment structures when they wash out after winter rains. The hot tubs were characterized by the Ventana Wilderness Alliance as "an attractive nuisance" that required an undue amount of time and attention of

1950-506: The most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganges , and Congo rivers. Endorheic basin are inland basins that do not drain to an ocean. Endorheic basins cover around 18% of the Earth's land. Some endorheic basins drain to an Endorheic lake or Inland sea . Many of these lakes are ephemeral or vary dramatically in size depending on climate and inflow. If water evaporates or infiltrates into

2000-552: The name "el Sud" (meaning "the South") was in the map of the Rancho El Sur land grant given by Governor José Figueroa to Juan Bautista Alvarado on July 30, 1834. The first American use of the name "Sur" was by the U.S. Coast Survey in 1851, which renamed a point of land that looked like an island and was shaped like a trumpet, formerly known as "Morro de la Trompa" and "Punta que Parece Isla" during Spanish times, to Point Sur. In 1977,

2050-418: The rainfall on the area of land included in its polygon. These polygons are made by drawing lines between gauges, then making perpendicular bisectors of those lines form the polygons. The isohyetal method involves contours of equal precipitation are drawn over the gauges on a map. Calculating the area between these curves and adding up the volume of water is time-consuming. Isochrone maps can be used to show

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2100-489: The redwoods, a mixed-hardwood forest of madrone , tanoak , coast live oak , canyon oak , and occasionally ponderosa and Coulter pine predominates. The rare Santa Lucia fir , endemic to the Santa Lucia Mountains , is found scattered in small groves, including one near the confluence of the Big Sur River and Ventana Creek , the lowest elevation (600 feet) known in the wild. On higher, steep, and South-facing slopes

2150-625: The responsibility of the countries sharing it. Nile Basin Initiative , OMVS for Senegal River , Mekong River Commission are a few examples of arrangements involving management of shared river basins. Management of shared drainage basins is also seen as a way to build lasting peaceful relationships among countries. The catchment is the most significant factor determining the amount or likelihood of flooding . Catchment factors are: topography , shape, size, soil type, and land use (paved or roofed areas). Catchment topography and shape determine

2200-461: The river rather than being absorbed by the ground. If the surface is impermeable the precipitation will create surface run-off which will lead to higher risk of flooding; if the ground is permeable, the precipitation will infiltrate the soil. Land use can contribute to the volume of water reaching the river, in a similar way to clay soils. For example, rainfall on roofs, pavements , and roads will be collected by rivers with almost no absorption into

2250-418: The speed with which the runoff reaches a river. A long thin catchment will take longer to drain than a circular catchment. Size will help determine the amount of water reaching the river, as the larger the catchment the greater the potential for flooding. It is also determined on the basis of length and width of the drainage basin. Soil type will help determine how much water reaches the river. The runoff from

2300-415: The time taken for rain to reach the river, while catchment size, soil type, and development determine the amount of water to reach the river. Generally, topography plays a big part in how fast runoff will reach a river. Rain that falls in steep mountainous areas will reach the primary river in the drainage basin faster than flat or lightly sloping areas (e.g., > 1% gradient). Shape will contribute to

2350-477: The time taken for runoff water within a drainage basin to reach a lake, reservoir or outlet, assuming constant and uniform effective rainfall. Drainage basins are the principal hydrologic unit considered in fluvial geomorphology . A drainage basin is the source for water and sediment that moves from higher elevation through the river system to lower elevations as they reshape the channel forms. Drainage basins are important in ecology . As water flows over

2400-484: The trail intersects the river. There was a pit toilet downstream of this intersection. Sykes is accessible from the Pine Ridge Trail (Forest Trail No. E306), which is connected to the lower Terrace Creek (Forest Trail No. 3E22) and Ventana Camp (Forest Trail No. 2E14) trails. The and challenging 10 miles (16 km) (6-7 hour) hike from the coast requires climbing from the trailhead at 313 feet (95 m) to 1,575 feet (480 m) in about 4 miles (6.4 km). Before

2450-575: The tributary Redwood Creek. From here, the trail climbs over 3,000 feet (910 m) to Pine Ridge, and enters the Carmel River watershed, eventually exiting the wilderness at China Camp. As of January 2017, the trail is closed due to damage caused by the Soberanes Fire , the result of an illegal campfire in Garrapata State Park . Drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to

2500-641: The world's land drains to the Atlantic Ocean . In North America , surface water drains to the Atlantic via the Saint Lawrence River and Great Lakes basins, the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, the Canadian Maritimes , and most of Newfoundland and Labrador . Nearly all of South America east of the Andes also drains to the Atlantic, as does most of Western and Central Europe and

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