Endorheic basin

An endorheic basin ; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin is the drainage basin that normally retains water as well as helps no outflow to other outside bodies of water, such(a) as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes or swamps, permanent or seasonal, that equilibrate through evaporation. They are also called closed or terminal basins, internal drainage systems, or simply just basins. Endorheic regions contrast with exorheic regions. Endorheic water bodies increase some of a largest lakes in the world, such(a) as the Caspian Sea, the world's largest inland body of water.

Basins with subsurface outflows which eventually lead to the ocean are broadly not considered endorheic; they are cryptorheic.

Endorheic basins exist local base levels, establishment a limit of erosion as well as deposition processes of nearby areas.

Notable endorheic basins and lakes

Large endorheic regions in Africa are located in the Sahara Desert, the Kalahari Desert, and the East African Rift:

There are endorheic lakes in Antarctica in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Victoria Land, the largest ice-free area in Antarctica.

Much of western and Central Asia is a giant endorheic region featured up of a number of contiguous closed basins. The region contains several basins and terminal lakes, including:

Other endorheic lakes and basins in Asia include:

Australia, being very dry and having exceedingly low runoff ratios due to its ancient soils, has numerous endorheic drainages. The nearly important are:

Though a large ingredient of Europe drains to the endorheic Caspian Sea, Europe's wet climate means it contains relatively few terminal lakes itself: any such(a) basin is likely to fall out to fill until it reaches an overflow level connecting it with an outlet or erodes the barrier blocking its exit.

There are some seemingly endorheic lakes, but in fact they are cryptorheic, being drained either through manmade canals, via karstic phenomena, or other subsurface seepage.

A few minor true endorheic lakes cost in Spain e.g. Laguna de Gallocanta, Estany de Banyoles, Italy, Cyprus Larnaca and Akrotiri salt lakes and Greece.

Many small lakes and ponds in North Dakota and the Northern Great Plains are endorheic; some of them do salt encrustations along their shores.