What characteristic differentiates a watershed from a drainage basin?

While the terms are often used interchangeably, the primary differentiating characteristic is scale and context. Both a watershed and a drainage basin refer to an area of land where all water that falls on it drains to a common outlet, such as a river, lake, or ocean. However, 'watershed' is typically used to describe a smaller, more localized area, while 'drainage basin' refers to a larger area encompassing multiple watersheds. A drainage basin is a larger-scale system that includes all the land area drained by a major river and its tributaries. It is a hierarchical system, meaning that a large drainage basin can be composed of many smaller watersheds. For example, the Mississippi River drainage basin encompasses all the land drained by the Mississippi River and its tributaries, including numerous smaller watersheds throughout the central United States. A watershed, on the other hand, might refer to the area drained by a smaller stream or creek that is a tributary of a larger river. In practical terms, the term 'watershed' is often used in the context of local water resource management and conservation efforts, focusing on the specific area contributing water to a particular stream or lake. The term 'drainage basin' is more commonly used in larger-scale hydrological studies and regional planning efforts, considering the entire network of rivers and streams within a major river system. Therefore, the key distinction is one of scale: a watershed is a smaller component of a larger drainage basin.