Fascinating. Is there such a thing in Europe? I am not aware...

@FailForward Yes there is. Probably more than one but the one I know about goes from the netherlands to romania as a continuous waterway. In fact there is a third leg connected to this river that can divide europe into 3 parts not just 2

@FailForward While we are on the topic here is one of my favorite maps showing water ways (attached), the coloring is significant.

Each unique color represents a watershed, that is each color all drains out in the same direction and to the same point, ultimately draining to a single outlet into an ocean. You can always get from any point in the same color to any other point.

WRT a waterway which connects from ocean to ocean that would occur anytime there is a point that sits between two colors, almost always a lake, that drains off into each color in different directions. These lakes are special in the sense that they are the relatively rare waterways that belong to two or more watersheds.

#Nature #Rivers #water #watersheds #science

@freemo Thanks. Nice maps. Of course I know how drainage systems work, but I did not know there are natural connectors (you know, we built the Panama channel, but it would probably not "occur" on its own). On a second thought, though, it of course makes sense that occasionally Nature would produce such a thing. So to learn that there is such a creek (and more of such bifurcation rivers) is indeed interesting. And the split of the continent in the case of that creek is just so nice: right through the middle :-).

@FailForward They are in fact fairly rare if we are talking only natural occurrences. Only about two dozen such occurrences worldwide as far as I know.