Basin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Basin has several meanings:

• A watershed, which may be called also a hydrological basin or catchment basin. Watershed, however, may be used also to mean a boundary between hydrological basins. (Water divide may be used to avoid confusion.) A river basin is an example of watershed, as is the basin of an inland sea. Within each watershed all rain water and other precipitation tends to drain towards a common point or body of water.
• In geology basin has various uses. A basin may be a downdropped fault block, or graben, which fill with sediments. Structurally a basin consists of rock strata which dip or slope downward towrd a central point. A sedimentary basin is a low and usually sinking region that is filled with sediments from adjacent positive areas. Sedimentary basins are often found on either side of island arcs or adjacent to continental margins.
• An oceanic basin, an underwater depression in which an ocean or a major part of an ocean lies. It is a manifestation of a feature of plate tectonics.
• A wash basin or wash-hand basin, a vessel, usually of a rounded shape, designed to contain water for the purpose of cleaning hands and other minor ablutions. It was formerly, typically part of a set with a ewer and soap dish. In modern practice, it is usually a sink, a vessel attached to a wall and furnished with taps (faucets) for the supply of water, and with a drain for convenient removal of the used water. In its portable and more primitive form, it is used on a washstand, a small piece of furniture in the form of a table designed to be used by a person while standing. The term bowl is more commonly used for a similar vessel used for washing other objects such as eating utensils.
• A pudding basin, a kitchen utensil of a rounded internal form and wider at its open top, so as to serve as a mould in which puddings may be cooked. It may also serve as a vessel in which small quantities of food ingredients are mixed by a cook, immediately before use in cooking.
• A basin, dock or artificial, protective pool for the reception of ships or boats, in which the water level is maintained.
  • A tidal basin, positioned outside the entrance of a dock so that vessels may wait there for entry to the dock when the tidal level has attained that within.
  • A canal basin, a dock at a point where a canal is entered from tidal water. It allows for the entry of numerous vessels while the tide is suitable, so that they may be dispatched along the canal at leisure. It may also be an artificial pool, entered from a canal, in which vessels may lie while their cargoes are handled or while they await cargoes.