Major Stores Of Water: Global Distribution And Size Flashcards
What are the main stores of water?
- Sea ice
- Ice shelves
- Glaciers/Ice sheets
- Snowfall
- Permafrost
What are the 4 major stores of water in the water cycle?
- Hydrosphere
- Lithosphere
- Cryosphere
- Atmosphere
What is the hydrosphere?
All of the Earth’s water including ground water, surface water, snow, ice and water in the atmosphere
What is the lithosphere?
Water stored within permeable (and between impermeable) rocks, and in the soil
What is the cryosphere?
Frozen states of water:
•permafrost
•snow
•ice
What is the atmosphere?
Water stored in the air as water vapour or mist
Why is the cryosphere important?
- 3/4 of water comes from snow melt in West America
- 1/5 of the Earth’s surface is covered in a state of permafrost
- Greenland’s ice sheets contains 10% of the world’s ice
What percentage of water is saline?
•Saline water within water reads at:
96.5%
•Saline water in lakes/other bodies of water reds at:
0.9%
What is the percentage of water found in rivers and lakes?
0.006%
Why is groundwater more important than glaciers, icecaps etc?
It is found everywhere, whereas glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets are only found in specific places.
What is an aquifer?
It is an underground layer of permeable rock which groundwater is stored within it and can hence be collected from it.
Why are aquifers important?
30% of all fresh water is stored in rocks, buried deep beneath the surface and are crucial for sustaining civilisation.
e.g. The aquifer beneath London has been providing fresh water to the city for over 200 years
Where are aquifers found?
Arid regions of central and western Africa, the majority of the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Western South America and central Australia
What can happen to aquifers?
Salt water intrusion can occur; this is where sea water manages to infiltrate into the rocks, often due to over abstraction of the original water in the aquifer.
