Hydrosphere Flashcards
Global hydro logical cycle
The global hydrological cycle is responsible for circulating Earth’s water and although volume of water in the system never changes, the state it is in does (liquid, gas or solid).Water in the oceans is heated by the sun and evaporates(liquid changes to vapour) before condensing higher up in the atmosphere to form droplets of water which form clouds (1).
These water droplets in the form of clouds are carried by the wind before precipitation(in the form of rain, hail, snow, sleet etc.) eventually returns water to the land or sea (1)
–some falls directly back into the ocean where it is stored, ready to begin the cycle again, whereas some falls onto land (1).
Where water cannot infiltrate through the soil (e.g. due to compacted soil due to overgrazing or saturation through heavy rainfall) (1)
water may run directly over the surface of the land as runoff or via surface water(rivers), downstream towards the sea, with some stored in lakes (1)
.Any falling precipitation which has been interceptedby plants is eventually returned to the atmosphere to condense, forming clouds, via evapotranspiration (1)
–the process where water is lost through tiny pores in plants (1).
Some water does not run directly off the surface but rather is absorbed by the soil (infiltration) (1)and flows as through flow towards the sea, eventually emerging as a spring (1).
Some water percolates deep into the underlying rocks and flows as groundwater flow beneath the water table directly back to the sea –this can often take a long time (1).
