Hydrologic cycle

4.9 of 5.0 (198 reviews)

Contains
387 words

Category
Science

The above thumbnails are of reduced quality. To view the work in full quality, click download.

Hydrologic cycle

HYDROLOGIC CYCLE The hydrologic cycle is a constant movement of water above, on, and below the earth's surface. It is a cycle that replenishes ground water supplies. It begins as water vaporizes into the atmosphere from vegetation, soil, lakes, rivers, snowfields and oceans-a process called evapotranspiration. As the water vapor rises it condenses to form clouds that return water to the land through precipitation: rain, snow, or hail. Precipitation falls on the earth and either percolates into the soil or flows across the ground. Usually it does both. When precipitation percolates into the soil it is called infiltration when it flows across the ground it is called surface run off. The amount of precipitation that infiltrates, versus the amount that flows across the surface, varies depending on factors such as the amount of water already in the soil, soil composition, vegetation cover and degree of slope. Surface runoff eventually reaches a stream or other surface water body where it is again evaporated into the atmosphere. Infiltration, however, moves under the force of gravity through the soil. If soils are dry, water is absorbed by the soil until it is thoroughly wetted. Then excess infiltration begins to move slowly downward to the water table. Once it reaches the water table, it is called ground water. Ground water continues to move downward and laterally through the subsurface. Eventually it discharges through hillside springs or seeps into streams, lakes, and the ocean where it is again evaporated to perpetuate the cycle. GROUND WATER AND SUBSURFACE WATER Most rock or soil near the earth's surface is composed of solids and voids. The voids are spaces between grains of sand, or cracks in dense rock. All water beneath the land surface occurs within such void space sand is referred to as underground or subsurface water. Subsurface water occurs in two different zones. One zone, located immediately beneath the land surface in most areas, contains both water and air in the voids. This zone is referred to as the unsaturated zone. Other names for the unsaturated zone are zone of aeration and vadose zone. The unsaturated zone is almost always underlain by a second zone in which all voids are full of water. This zone is defined as the saturated zone. Water in the saturated zone is referred ...

You are currently seeing 50% of this paper.

You're seeing 387 words of 774.

Read the full essay

Keywords: hydrologic cycle definition, hydrologic cycle diagram, hydrologic cycle processes, hydrologic cycle meaning, hydrologic cycle explanation, hydrologic cycle steps, hydrologic cycle drawing, hydrologic cycle definition geography

Similar essays

Killer whale, the mighty dolphin

Killer Whale, a name to strike terror in the hearts of sea ferers in all the oceans of the world. The Romans called it Orca, meaning "The demon from Hell." Originally, american fisherman referred to them as "Whale Killer" because many fisherman reported seeing pods of them attacking and killing Humpback, Gray, and even Blue Whales. Somehow the...

45 reviews

Download

E

.r., the golgi body and .R., Golgi And Vesicles .R. And Vesicles Thousands of structures with membranes crowd the eukaryotic cytoplasm, the most numerous being called the endoplasmic reticulum (R), a dense network of membranes running through the cytoplasm of every cell and enclosing a network of interconnected tubes (cisternae), whic...

208 reviews

Download

Appalachian

The Mountains The mountain system dominates the Eastern United States and seperates the Eastern seaboard from the interior with a belt of uplands that extends nearly 1,500 miles from northeastern Alabama to the Canadian border.; They are old, complex mountains, eroded from much older and greater ranges. The present topography is a resul...

96 reviews

Download

Computer viruses

Computer Viruses A computer virus is an illegal and potentially damaging computer program designed to infect other software by attaching itself to any software it contacts. In many cases, virus programs are designed to damage computer systems maliciously by destroying of corrupting data. If the infected software is transferred to or access...

119 reviews

Download

Depression 4

Depression (psychology), mental illness in which a person experiences deep, unshakable sadness and diminished interest in nearly all activities. People also use the term depression to describe the temporary sadness, loneliness, or blues that everyone feels from time to time. In contrast to normal sadness, severe depression, also called major de...

168 reviews

Download