Great Divide: see Continental Divide.

Continental Divide, the "backbone" of a continent. In North America, from N Alaska to New Mexico, it moves along the crest of the Rocky Mts., which separates westward-flowing streams from eastward-flowing waters. In SW New Mexico the divide crosses an area of low relief; it becomes more distinct in N Mexico, where it follows the Sierra Madre Occidental. In the United States it has been called the Great Divide, a name also occasionally used to designate the whole Rocky Mt. system, especially the southern section, where the high, rugged ranges presented an almost impenetrable barrier to westbound explorers and settlers. Glacier, Yellowstone, and Rocky Mountain national parks lie on the Continental Divide, and the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail runs along it (see National Parks and Monuments, table).

or Great Divide

Main watershed of eastern Australia. It consists of a series of plateaus and mountain ranges roughly paralleling the coasts of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria that stretches for some 2,300 mi (3,700 km). Beginning in the north on the Cape York Peninsula, Queen., the range heads generally south to become the Australian Alps near the New South Wales–Victoria border. The range bends west in Victoria, ending in the Grampians, while a southern spur emerges from the Bass Strait to form the central uplands of Tasmania. First traversed by Europeans moving into the Australian Outback in 1813, the region is now important for agriculture, lumbering, and mining, and its national parks and other natural areas are major tourist attractions.

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Most notable watershed of the North American continent. The mountains comprising it extend generally north-south, thus dividing the continent's principal drainage into waters flowing eastward (e.g., into Hudson Bay in Canada or the Mississippi River in the U.S.) and waters flowing westward (into the Pacific Ocean). Most of the divide runs along the crest of the Rocky Mountains, through British Columbia in Canada and through the states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico in the U.S. Its central point is Colorado, where it has many peaks above 13,000 ft (3,962 m). It continues southward into Mexico, roughly paralleling the Sierra Madre, and into Central America.

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