The Hydrosphere

LAKES
CANAL

SEAS

RIVER
OCEAN

Main Bodies of Water

 The Hydrosphere
• The hydrosphere consists of the Earth’s
water resources: oceans, lakes, rivers,
streams, groundwater, and glaciers
 Fresh Water Locations—Rivers,
Streams, and Lakes
• What is a river?
– A large channel along which water is continually
flowing down a slope—made of many streams that
come together
• What is a stream?
– A small channel along which water is continually
flowing down a slope—made of small gullies
• What is a lake?
– A body of water of considerable size contained on a
body of land
 Fresh Water Locations--Groundwater
• What is groundwater?
– The water found in cracks and pores in sand,
gravel and rocks below the earth’s surface
• What is an aquifer?
– A porous rock layer underground that is a
reservoir for water
 How water moves underground
• Where does ground water come from?
– Precipitation! Precipitation can evaporate,
run off the surface or soak into the
underground.
– Water trickles down between particles of soil
and through cracks and spaces in layers of
rock.
 Effects of different materials.
• What are permeable materials?
– Materials that are full of tiny, connected air
spaces, that water can seep through.
• What are impermeable materials?
– Materials such as clay and granite that water
cannot seep through easily.
 Runoff
• When rain falls on the land, some of the water is
absorbed into the ground forming pockets of water
called groundwater. Most groundwater eventually
returns to the ocean. Other precipitation runs
directly into streams or rivers. Water that does not
get absorbed and collects in rivers, streams, and
oceans is called runoff.
 Water Zones
• The area of permeable rock or soil that is totally filled with water
is called the saturated zone. The top of that saturated zone is
called the water table.
• Soil and rock layers above the water table contain some
moisture too, but here the pores contain air. They are not
saturated. This is known as the unsaturated zone.
 Wells
• A water well is a structure created in the
ground by digging or drilling
access groundwater in underground aquifers.
The well water is drawn by a pump.
• An artisan well is drawn up when water rises
because of pressure within an aquifer.
 Other Surface Waters
• What is a wetland?
– An area where the water table is at, near or above the
land surface long enough during the year to support
adapted plant growth
• What are the types of wetlands?
– Swamps, bogs, and marshes
• Swamp: a wetland dominated by trees
• Bogs: a wetland dominated by peat moss
• Marshes: a wetland dominated by grasses
 Inland Waters
• Inland waters are all the freshwater
resources found on the continents (lakes,
rivers, groundwater)
• A watershed is an area of land in which
all inland waters drain into the same larger
body of water (also called catchment area
or drainage basin)
• Ex. Parang-parang watershed, Surigao City
What is a watershed?
 Factors that affect how water
flows within a watershed
• Topography slope of the land; steep
slopes drain easily and quickly
• Geology type of rock; holes or gaps in
rock vs. compact clay
• Climate rainfall, winds and temperature
• Vegetation highly vegetated areas can
slow water flow
• Development a dam can prevent water
from flowing freely
 The Oceans
• Five major oceans
– Pacific Ocean
– Atlantic Ocean
– Arctic Ocean
– Indian Ocean
– Southern Ocean (as of 2000)

** Two important factors when studying oceans

are temperature and salinity
 Ocean Temperature
• Ocean temperature varies with depth,
season and latitude
Pollution and Degradation of Water Resources

• Chemical pollution metals, mercury,

PCB’s, mine drainage
• Thermal pollution heat discharge from
factories can decrease oxygen content
and lead to fish kills
• Oil spills 6 million tonnes per year
• Plastics north Pacific Gyre an ocean
“garbage dump”
Water Pollution
 Fish Kill

EST
SE
 Oil Spills

EST
SE
 Thermal Pollution?

• the harmful
release of heated
liquid into a body
of water or heat
released into the
air as a waste
product of
business.
 Eutrophication
• Farming activities add excess fertilizers to rivers and
lakes (mostly phosphorus and nitrogen).
• These excess fertilizers can
stimulate algae growth.
• Excess algae growth can
then lead to algae blooms,
toxins being produced,
reduced oxygen levels,
fish kills and green scum
forming on lakes.
• This whole process is called
eutrophication.
Biomagnification, also
known as bioamplification
or biological
magnification, is the
increasing concentration
of a substance, such as a
toxic chemical, in the
tissues of tolerant
organisms at successively
higher levels in a food
chain.
Groundwater Pollution