science

Parting of the Waters

Parting of the Waters is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Parting of the Waters rather than just read about it. In short: Parting of the Waters is an unusual hydrologic site near Two Ocean Pass on the Great Divide, within the Teton Wilderness Area of Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming, United States. Two Ocean Pass separates the headwaters of Pacific Creek, which flows west to the Pacific Ocean, and Atlantic Creek, which flows east to the Atlantic Ocean.

Key takeaways

Parting of the Waters belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Parting of the Waters to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Parting of the Waters from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Parting of the Waters is an unusual hydrologic site near Two Ocean Pass on the Great Divide, within the Teton Wilderness Area of Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming, United States. Two Ocean Pass separates the headwaters of Pacific Creek, which flows west to the Pacific Ocean, and Atlantic Creek, which flows east to the Atlantic Ocean. Parting of the Waters is located at 44°02.571′N 110°10.524′W.

History In 1965, this site received designation as a National Natural Landmark, bearing the official name of "Two Ocean Pass National Natural Landmark".

Geography North Two Ocean Creek flows down from its drainage on the side of Two Ocean Plateau, and divides its waters roughly equally between its two distributaries, Pacific Creek and Atlantic Creek. From this Y-shaped split, North Two Ocean Creek waters flow either 3,488 miles (5,613 km) to the Gulf of Mexico via Atlantic Creek and the Yellowstone, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, or 1,353 miles (2,177 km) to the Pacific via Pacific Creek and the Snake and Columbia Rivers. Inasmuch as North Two Ocean Creek splits into streams that flow separately to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the entire drainage of North Two Ocean Creek lies within an area that makes up the "Continental Divide" at this place. At Parting of the Waters, it has been said that a fish could literally swim over the Continential Divide, coming up one creek, crossing the Divide at Parting of the Waters, then going back down the other. Admittedly, the fish could use an easier route to swim over the Continental Divide in the marshy waters covering the Divide at nearby Two Ocean Pass, 0.4 miles (0.6 km) southeast of Parting of the Waters. However, the hydrologic uniqueness of Parting of the Waters is that the Continental Divide sits precisely at the Y-shaped separation point of two flowing distributaries, Atlantic and Pacific Creeks, whereas other lakes and marshes that drain into two sides of the Continental Divide, such as Two Ocean Pass and Isa Lake in Yellowstone National Park, or Canada's Committee's Punch Bowl (Pacific and Arctic drainages) are somewhat more common. Notably, it is thought that Two Ocean Pass provided the route for Yellowstone cutthroat trout to migrate from the Snake River (Pacific) drainage to the Yellowstone River (Atlantic) drainage.

See also Divide Creek, in the Canadian Rocky Mountains Danube Sinkhole, bifurcation along the European watershed Isa Lake, in Yellowstone National Park, in the U.S. state of Wyoming, which straddles the continental divide at Craig Pass Northwest Passage, navigable inland route between Atlantic and Pacific drainages in North America Committee's Punch Bowl, a tarn which flows into both the Arctic and Pacific Oceans

References

Bibliography "National Natural Landmarks". Nature.nps.gov. July 21, 2008. Archived from the original on September 21, 2008.

External links Fs.fed.us Parting of the Waters (looking downstream) Panoramio.com (looking upstream) Panoramio.com

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Parting of the Waters

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Parting of the Waters claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Parting of the Waters before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Parting of the Waters ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Parting of the Waters

In research: Parting of the Waters appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Parting of the Waters in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Parting of the Waters is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bridger–Teton National Forest, Great Divide of North America, Protected areas of Teton County, Wyoming, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Parting of the Waters outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Parting of the Waters in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Parting of the Waters means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Parting of the Waters out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Parting of the Waters in simple terms?

Why does Parting of the Waters matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Parting of the Waters?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Parting of the Waters.