Download Water Cycle Distribution of Earth’s Water

Water Cycle
Fresh Water Notes: Chapter 12

Water Cycle is a continuous moving of water from Earth’s surface to the atmosphere and
back.

There are 3 Major Parts
o Evaporation: liquid water changes to a gas  water vapor
o Condensation: water vapor cools and “clumps” around dust particles  forms a
cloud
o Precipitation: Water vapor condenses and droplets get heavier
 Examples
 Rain
 Snow
 Sleet
 Hail
 Returns to earth and…
 Soaks into the soil  groundwater
 Runs off the land back to the ocean  Run Off
Distribution of Earth’s Water

97% salt water

Location of Salt Water
o Oceans
 Pacific
 Largest
 Deepest
 Atlantic
 2nd largest
 Indian
 Smallest liquid ocean
 Deeper than Atlantic
 Arctic
 Smallest
 mostly frozen

3% fresh water
o about ¾ of fresh water is frozen
o about ¼ of fresh water is underground
o A tiny portion is in lakes and rivers
o A tiny portion is in water vapor in atmosphere

Location of Fresh water
o Ice

Locked in sheets at the poles
o Rivers and Lakes

Important source of fresh water for communities

Very small amount of the worlds water
o Groundwater

More water is stored underground than in all of Earth’s rivers and lakes.
Surface Water

Fresh water is found here
River Systems
 Rivers start in the mountains as run off from melting snow

Parts of a River System
o Tributaries: streams & smaller rivers that feed into main river
o Water Shed: land & area that supplies water to a river system

We live in the Mississippi River water shed
o Divide: Land ridge that separates one water shed from another

The continental divide is the longest divide in North America
Ponds
 Characteristics of Ponds
o Contain standing water (not moving)
o Shallow
 Sunlight reaches the bottom

Ponds form in different ways
o Rainfall
o Melting snow and ice
o Run off
o Rivers
o Ground water

Ponds are habitats for many animals
o Habitat: the place an organism lives and gets what it needs to survive
Lakes
 Characteristics of a lake
o Deeper and bigger than ponds
o Sunlight does not reach the bottom

No plants live on the bottom
o Bottom is sand, pebble or rock

Formed in several ways
o Ice sheets melting (Glaciers)

Ex. Great Lakes
o Movement of Earth’s crust

Ex. Lake Victoria in Africa
o Volcanoes
 From lava flow

Empty volcano craters
o Reservoir- a lake that stores water for human use
Wetlands
 A land area that is covered with water during part or all the air.

Three common types
o Marshes- grassy areas covered by shallow water or a stream
o Swamp- look like flooded forests
o Bogs- in cool areas

Everglades: Marshes in Florida

Importance of wetlands
o Habitats to many species
o Natural water filters
o Flood controls
Water Underground
How water moves underground
 Trickles down between particles of soil and through cracks and spaces in layers of rock

Different types of rock and soil effects how water moves
o Large pore size water moves easily downward
 Permeable: water can pass through
o Small pores- or no connected pores
 Impermeable: water cannot pass through

Water Zones
o Saturated Zone
 Totally filled
 water table: top of the saturated zone
o Unsaturated Zone
 Pores have some moisture but also some air
 Not Filled
Bringing up Groundwater
 Springs: groundwater bubbles or flows out cracks in the rocks
o Can be hot or cold

Aquifers: any underground layer of rock or sediment that holds H2O

Wells
o Location: below the water table
 can be effected by drought (no rain)
o Pumps
 Mechanical
 Overuse
 Pump can become dry

Artesian Well: water rises because of the pressure within the aquifer
o No pump necessary
o Water spurts out

Geyser: fountain of boiling water and white steam bursts into air
o Periodically erupts (on a regular schedule)
 Heated by magma
 Ex. Old Faithful