Geography - Rivers and Oceans - Lesson #1

Question 1

Why are earth’s water systems important? (8 answers)

Answer 1

• for living things to survive
• to generate electricity
• to make products
• to irrigate farmland
• transportation
• recreation
• political boundary lines
• religious and traditional reasons

Question 2

What are water systems?

Answer 2

bodies of water and all their parts.

Question 3

Tell me about the water cycle. (6)

• evaporating
• precipitation
• where it is stored
• where it is stored
• where does water also drain through
• as water runs off the land, where does it carry the minerals to

Answer 3

• water is always evaporating from the land and water bodies
• some of the water is returned to the land and water bodies by precipitation
• some of it stored in ice, snow, or lakes
• some of it is stored in the soil as groundwater (water that is held or flowing beneath earth’s surface); the upper level its called the water table.
• water also drains through rivers towards lakes and oceans
• as water runs off the land, it carries minerals into the ocean

Question 4

Why are lakes not salty?

Answer 4

Lakes are not salty because the minerals are washed to the ocean since water flows from river to lakes to oceans.

Question 5

Where is earth’s water?

Answer 5

Oceans - 97%
Fresh water - 3%
Much of the fresh water cannot be used because it is in ice caps, glaciers, or deep below the surface.
*Only 1% of all fresh water on earth is available for people to use.

Question 6

Tell me about rivers

• where they are found?
• how much fresh water do they contain? (big or small)
• what do they shape and create?

Answer 6

• found on all continents except Antarctica
• contain a small percentage of fresh water
• shape the land and create land forms (valleys and canyons)

Question 7

Tell me about oceans

• how many oceans are on earth?
• how does water flow when it comes to oceans?
• what percentage does it make up of earth’s surface?
• the ocean acts as a __ of earth’s water.

Answer 7

• only one ocean on earth
• water flows from one ocean to another
• make up 71% of earth’s surface
• the ocean acts as a storehouse of earth’s water

Question 8

Tell me about salinity

• what is it?
• where does the ocean have higher salinity?
• what would happen without rivers, streams, and precipitation supplying the ocean with fresh water?

Answer 8

• Salinity is the saltiness of a body of water
• the ocean has higher salinity where there is higher evaporation, e.g. near the equator
• without rivers, streams, and precipitation supplying the ocean with fresh water, it would become more and more salty and difficult for living things to survive.