WATER RESOURCES

Water Surface Water

o It is part of the hydrosphere, and it makes up o Streams

about 71 % of the Earth’s surface. o Rivers
 As an Earth’s Subsystem o Wetlands
 A Life Essential
 A Resource Purposes of Surface Water Reservoir

- Hydropower
Salinity
- Flood Control
o Saltiness of the water - Agriculture Irrigation
- Water Supply
Distinct Regions where Saltwater Reservoir
could be found near land

 Seas and Bays  Stream

 Gulfs - Body of water that flow downslope
 Straits toward sea level because of gravity

Freshwater Reservoir Components of a Stream Network

o Ice  Interfluve
o Surface Water - Narrow, elongated landform
o Ground Water separating individual stream within a
basin
ICE  Drainage Basin
- The land area in which the water
 Glaciers
flows into a particular stream
- Permanent body of ice
 Drainage divide
- Consists of recrystallized snow
- The line that separate individual
 Ice sheets
drainage basin
- Mass of glacial land ice extending
Amazon River – Longest River in the world
more than 50,000 square kilometers
Cagayan River
- Antarctica
- Greenland
 River
 Permafrost
- A stream with considerable volume
- A soil, rock or sediment frozen for
and a well-defined channel
more than two consecutive years.
 Lakes
- The upper portion thaws during
- A large inland bodies of fresh or
summer and refreezes during winter.
saline water
- Comprises 0.8% of the total
 Ponds are smaller shallow
freshwater resource
lakes
 Dams are barriers constructed
along streams to contain the
flow of water
  Wetlands
- A land areas where water covers the
surface for significant periods
Types of Wetlands
1. Marsh
2. Estuary
3. Swamps
 Marsh
- A shallow wetland around lakes,
streams, and oceans where grasses
and reeds are the dominant
vegetation
 Estuaries
- Estuaries are commonly described as
semi-enclosed bodies of water
- situated at the interface between land
and ocean, where sea water is
measurably diluted by the inflow of
freshwater
 Swamp
- A wetland often partially or
intermittently covered with water;
especially one dominated by woody
vegetation
Floods
 Fluvial or Riverine
 Flash Floods
 Coastal Flooding
 Pluvial or Surface Water
Ground Water
o Is fresh water found in the rock and soil
layers beneath the surface
o Largest reservoir of freshwater
o Aquifers, Artesian Wells, and Springs
o Aquifers are water bearing rocks that act as
sponge that holds groundwater in tiny
cracks, cavities and pores between minerals
and grains
Porosity
 total amount of empty pore spaces in the
rock
Permeability
 ability of the rock or sediments to allow
water to pass through
Human Activities Affecting Water Resources
 Increase in Population
 Migration from Rural to Urban Area
 Demand For Food
 Competition for water resources
 Distribution of population and water resources
 Pollution
Vermicomposting
 Process by which worms are used to convert
organic materials (usually wastes) into a
humus-like material known as vermin-
compost.
Eudrilus Eugeniae - African night crawlers
What is soil?
o According to Natural Resources
Conservation Services (NRCS), soil is the
unconsolidated mineral or organic material
on the immediate surface of the earth that
serves natural medium for the growth of
land parts.
o It forms PEDOSPHERE
- Derived from the greek words pedon
which means “soil” and sfaira which
means “sphere”
o Water & Air
Soil Provides
 Water and nutrients to plants and microbes
 Physical support system in which terrestrial
vegetation is rooted
 Source and sink for biogeochemical cycles
of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur
  Habitat for soil biota, mostly decomposers, Categories of Parent Rock Material
many still unknown  Igneous Rocks
 Sedimentary Rocks
Proteus anguinus - Olm  Metamorphic Rocks
Dasypodidae – Armadillo  Types of Formation
o Residual Parent Rock
Talpa europaea – Mole - The soil develops in situ, or
in place, as the parent
material weathers. This is
Soil Formation often the source of soil along
mountain ridges. In the
o Formed by the combination of physical, tropics, the soil formed tends
chemical and biological factors to be highly leached and
oxidic
o Colluvial Parent Rock
- The soil develops from rock
fragments that fall from
greater heights due to gravity.
These soils tend to be coarse
and stony. This mode of
formation dominates along
mountain slopes.
o Alluvial Parent Rock
- The soil develops along a
stream or river systems in
floodplains, alluvial plains, or
delta deposits. Soils have a
great degree of particle
Factors Affecting Soil Formation sorting, as finer particles are
kept in suspension by flowing
 Parent material water.
 Climate o Loose Deposits
 Topography - The soil develops from
 Biological factors deposits of particles by the
 Time wind. Particles are highly
sorted because wind carries
finer particles the furthest.
 Parent Rock Materials Since volcanic ash is carried
What is Rocks? and deposited by wind, this
- materials composed of minerals method of formation is
How are rocks formed? particularly important for
- Cooling of magma volcanic ash soils.
- Weathering and erosion of original
rock
- Transformation by heat and pressure
  Climate Indirect influences
- exerts most influential control on
soil formation  Changes in atmospheric composition
- Temperature, moisture, CO2, O2  Additions/deletions of species
determine the production and
decomposition of organic matter in
the soil
- Soil carbon increases with
decreasing temp and increasing
precipitation / moisture
- Precipitation (& movement of
water) determine whether products
of weathering will accumulate or be
lost from the soil.
 Topography
- Influences soils through its effect on
climate, moisture availability and
differential transport of soil particles.

The past and present BIOTA at a site strongly

influences soil chemical and physical properties.

 Earthworms, termites, and invertebrate

shredders - stimulate decomposition
- Termites form large termitaria that
concentrate soil resources and
nutrients vertically
 Grazers, e.g. Africa rhinos generate large
dunghills that concentrate nutrients in
selected sites
 Microorganisms vary in their rate of
decomposition and type of organic
compounds being decomposed

Human Population strongly influenced soil

formation worldwide through their agricultural and
industrial activities

Direct influences

 Changes in nutrient inputs

 Irrigation
 Alteration of soil microenvironment
 Increased erosional loss of soils