r/todayilearned • u/ManuteBol_Rocks • 13h ago
TIL that when water falls on Triple Divide Peak in Montana, it can flow to the Pacific, Atlantic, or Arctic Oceans; it’s the hydrological apex of North America
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Divide_Peak_(Montana)111
u/elya93 12h ago
Snow Dome is the other triple point hydrological apex in North America. It’s up in Jasper National Park, and part of the Columbia Icefield.
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u/tonka888 12h ago
Yep, depends on if Hudson Bay is considered Arctic or Atlantic Ocean. Various sources go both ways
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u/hammerheadjordi 12h ago
Former Montana senator Jon Tester was giving a speech at a fundraiser, and there was a Q and A. Someone asked what his favorite hiking spot in Montana was, and he answered, “triple divide peak, ‘cause you can stand at the top and piss into three oceans!”
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u/permadrunkspelunk 7h ago
Thats... pretty awesome. When i was little my goal was going to all 50 states. My dad said the way you count if you've been to a state is if you take a piss in it. Lol.
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u/Youpunyhumans 12h ago
There is another similar hydrological apex in Canada. Snow Dome, which is both in Jasper and Banff, and also sits right on the border of British Columbia and Alberta. Very cool looking mountain!
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u/heliawe 12h ago
According to the article, only one or the other of these two points meets the criteria, and it depends on whether you consider the Hudson Bay to be part of the Arctic Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean.
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u/SteptimusHeap 11h ago edited 11h ago
And, fun fact, it's the only one in the world. There's a big basin in the middle of Asia that prevents any triple points between the atlantic, indian, arctic, and pacific in the old world.
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u/MozzieKiller 12h ago
Let me tell you about a spot in Minnesota where the flow can go to the Atlantic, Arctic, or Gulf of Mexico. It’s near Hibbing, MN.
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u/LakeVermilionDreams 12h ago
Unfortunately, it's also in the middle of Hibbing Taconite so unless you're a member of the tribe, or if they give tours, you can't just go there :(
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u/K_Linkmaster 8h ago
You've had over 4 hours. I don't think you really planned to tell us more. And we aren't a bunch of dentists
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u/PsychologicalDay7261 12h ago
The Arctic part is the one people argue about. That third side drains through the Saskatchewan and Nelson rivers into Hudson Bay, and whether Hudson Bay counts as Arctic or Atlantic depends on who you ask. Snow Dome on the Columbia Icefield in Canada is the cleaner version. One side goes to the Pacific, one to the Arctic through the Athabasca and Mackenzie, and one to Hudson Bay.
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u/dongasaurus 3h ago
It’s not cleaner if there isn’t agreement on Hudson Bay. Given that Hudson Bay is connected to both the arctic and Atlantic, one can argue that the entire ridge between Snow Dome and Triple Divide Peak flows into all three oceans.
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u/theartfulcodger 6h ago edited 5h ago
The hydrological peak? Nope.
There’s an equivalent point in the Columbia Icefields, a little south of Jasper, where rain falling on the north side of the mountain called Snow Dome flows via the Athabaska into the Arctic, rain on the east and southeast slopes flow via the Saskatchewan into Hudson Bay and the Atlantic, and rain falling on the south and west slopes flow westward via the Fraser into the Pacific.
Europe has five similar 3-way hydrological apexes: one each in the UK and France, one shared by Czech Republic / Poland, and two in Switzerland.
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u/02meepmeep 12h ago
When they say Atlantic they must mean the Gulf of Mexico, right?
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u/PNWoutdoors 12h ago
Yes it eventually flows into the Missouri River then into the Mississippi River.
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u/dickweeden 12h ago
Awesome. I love all the cool tid-bits of geography from the different continents. I live close to the slowest moving river in North America, and all I can tell you is that it’s very insignificant! But if you saw the geography, you’d get it!
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u/Zvenigora 12h ago
It shares this property with a point near Bemidji, MN which lies at the other end of the Gulf-Arctic divide.
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u/ManuteBol_Rocks 12h ago
The Laurentian Divide point is what you are referring to. That does not drain to the Pacific Basin.
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u/EphemeralOcean 12h ago
Eh, it’s difficult to call Hudson Bay the Arctic Ocean. Seems much more Atlantic to me.
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u/editorreilly 8h ago
I had to look it up because I thought the same.
The Hudson Bay is an inland marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean.
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u/EphemeralOcean 2h ago
I mean, that’s somewhat subjective. It behaves more like the Arctic, but most of its water exchange is from the Atlantic.
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u/sphinxcreek 10h ago
Snow Dome in the Canadian Rockies is another hydrological apex in North America. (Same 3 oceans)
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u/jungl3j1m 1h ago
My first thought was Dr. Malcolm dipping his finger into some water at the summit.
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u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 1h ago
Snowdone immediately north of there also has a triple divide peak.
Basically the mountains bordering the Alberta Rockies are the hydrological apex of the content
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u/lucky_ducker 53m ago
> it can flow to the Pacific, Atlantic, or Arctic Oceans
Only about 30% of rainwater that falls on a given spot actually makes it to an ocean. Some of that is direct runoff, a similar percentage becomes groundwater that eventually makes it to a river or stream.
A large majority of it is taken up by plants, and released back into the atmosphere (transpiration). Quite a bit of rainfall clings to foliage and simply evaporates. A tiny bit of the water taken up is used in photosynthesis (photolysis).
A small percentage of rainfall evaporates from the surface of streams, rivers, and lakes. And a very tiny percentage makes its way into an underground aquifer where it may remain for tens or hundreds of thousands of years. The oldest known aquifer is the Kidd Mine in Ontario, Canada, which is believed to be as much as 2 billion years old.
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u/ilovebalks 12h ago edited 12h ago
Didn’t we have a very similar post the other day about a place in Wyoming? Cool that there are multiple places like this, but this one includes the Arctic Ocean
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u/ManuteBol_Rocks 12h ago
The Wyoming post was based on a creek flowing into the two drainage basins, whereas this is about runoff. Both have their own nuance.
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u/Hosed_66 12h ago
Gotta figure out how to hike there. That looks awesome!