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Name _Anthony Medeiros

Date _11-14-14

The Water Cycle


http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/mwater.htm
l
Where is Earths Water?
1. What does it mean that the Earth is a closed system, like a terrarium? Everything in the
earth is recycled and used again.
2. How does water the water amount from millions of years ago compare to todays
water amount? There is the same amount of water because water never dissipates,
it is always recycled.
3. Out of all the water on Earth, what percentage is usable by humans? 31.3%
4.Of the water usable by humans, where is the largest percentage of that water found?
Ground water, 30.1 %.
5. Complete the following diagram:
3%

2.5%

.26%

1.2%
30.1
%

.49%

2.6

20.9

%
3.8%

96.5%

68.7%

69
%

6. Of the freshwater, where is most of the water tied up? Glaciers and ice cap.
7. Of the remaining freshwater, where is the largest majority of that water found? In
ground water.
8. What percentage of freshwater is found as surface water? 1.2%______________
9. Compare the amount of freshwater to the amount of saltwater in cubic kilometers:
There is 562000 more saline water volume in cubic miles than fresh water.

How Much Water Is There?


1. How much of the Earths surface is covered by water? 71% of earths surface is
water covered.
2. Besides the ocean, where else does water exist? In ground water, glaciers, surface
water, aquifers, and water vapor.
3. Where does most of the water people and other life on Earth come from? The
freshwater that people use comes from precipitation, ground water, and surface
water.
4. Compare the amount of groundwater to surface water: There is about 315 million
cubic miles of surface water than groundwater.
5. What term is used for the storage place of groundwater? _Water table.
6. How is groundwater recharged? _Groundwater is recharged by aquifers.
7. How does groundwater recharge rivers? It keeps them full by running into them.
8. In 2005, how much surface water did the United States use? _About 328000 million
gallons.
9. In the same time period, how much groundwater did people use? About 86000
million gallons.
What is another term used for the water cycle? The Hydrologic cycle.
Atmosphere
1. Which two processes changes liquid water into vapor which then rises into the atmosphere?
_The two processes are evaporation and condensation.
2. Which process produces the majority of the vapor in the atmosphere?
Evaporation____________
3. What percentage of vapor does transpiration add to the atmosphere? _10%
4. If all the water in the atmosphere rained down and covered the Earth, how deep would it be?
Only around 2.5 centimeters to an inch.
Condensation
1. Define condensation: The process in which water vapor is changed into liquid water.
2. Why is condensation an important part of the water cycle? Condensation is important because
it creates the liquid water that allows for precipitation.
3. Besides clouds, what else can happen due to condensation? Condensation may also cause
fog.
Evaporation
1. Define evaporation: The process by which water changes from a liquid to a vapor or a gas.
2. Where does most of the evaporated water come from? Oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, and streams.
3. What is necessary in order for evaporation to occur? Heat is necessary for evaporation to occur.
4. What percentage of the water evaporated from the ocean is transported over land and falls as
precipitation? Only about 10%.
5. How long does an evaporated water molecule stay in the air? A water molecule spends about
10 days in the air.

Evapotranspiration
1. According to this website, define evapotranspiration: (beneath the diagram) The sum of
evaporation and transpiration.
2. Define transpiration: The process by which moisture is carried throughout a plant and escapes
as vapor.
3. How much water in the atmosphere is due to transpiration: About 10% is found in the
atmosphere.222
4. How does a plant transpire? Water is soaked up by roots and transpires from its leaves.
5. How much can an oak tree transpire during one day? An oak tree can transpire about 109
gallons of water a day.
Freshwater Storage
1. What bodies of water does surface water include: Streams, ponds, lakes, reservoirs and
canals, and freshwater wetlands.
2. What processes are included in inflows to surface water? Inflows include precipitation, overland
runoff, groundwater seepage, and tributary inflows.
3. What processes are included in outflows of surface water? Outflows include evaporation,
movement of water into groundwater, and withdrawals by humans.
Groundwater Discharge
1. Describe why groundwater is an important part of the water cycle: It contributes to the flow of
streams and rivers and Influences River and wetland habitats.
2. Where is the majority of groundwater found? Groundwater is mostly found in spaces between
rocks and subsurface material.
3. When are aquifers formed? Aquifers are formed when soil and rock particles and be totally filled
with water.
4. Explain how water becomes part of the groundwater: Precipitation that falls and infiltrates into
the ground becomes groundwater
5. What percentage of freshwater is groundwater? 30.1% of freshwater is groundwater.
Groundwater Storage
1. Where does most of the water in groundwater come from? Most water comes from saline
water.
2. Describe the difference between the saturated zone and the unsaturated zone: The unsaturated
zone does not saturate the soil but the saturated zone saturates and takes up all spaces in soil.
3. What is the water table? The level below the ground that becomes saturated with water.
4. To what level would you have to dig to find water? You would have to access the water in the
saturated zone.

4. Label the diagram below:


Precipitation

Recharge to
water table

Soil zone
Water
table

Unsaturated
zone

Saturated zone
beneath water table

Ice, Snow, and Glaciers


1. What is meat by storage, in relation to the water cycle? The water is locked up in its present
state for a relatively long time.
2. Where is the 90% of Earths ice mass found? In Antarctica.
3. Where is the rest of it found? _The rest is found in the Greenland ice cap.
4. What majority of freshwater is held in ice caps and glaciers? 68.7%
Infiltration
1. What is happening to water during infiltration? Water seeps into the subsurface soil and rock.
2. What happens to water that infiltrates the shallow soil layer? It gradually moves vertically or
horizontally through subsurface soil.
3. What happens to the water that infiltrates deeper? Water that infiltrates deeper recharges aquifers.
4. What is the greatest factor affecting infiltration? _The greatest factor is precipitation.
5. What happens to rain, once the soil is saturated? Once soil becomes too saturated, surface
water forms.
Oceans
1. What percentage of water is found in the ocean? 96.5%
2. What percentage of evaporated water comes from the ocean? About 90% of evaporated water
comes from the ocean.

Precipitation
1. What forms of water can precipitation take? Water can fall as snow, rain, sleet, and hail.
2. How does most precipitation fall? Rain is the most common precipitation.
3. What has to happen before water can fall as precipitation? Before water can fall as precipitation
it has to condense in the cloud.
4. How do water droplets grow? Water molecules join together in the cloud.
5. Draw how raindrops actually look up to 3 mm:

Snowmelt Runoff
1. In what type of climates does snowmelt runoff play a significant role in streamflow? In colder
climates in the spring or summer time.
2. What percentage of freshwater in the western states comes from snowmelt runoff? As much as
75%.
Springs
1. What are springs a result of? Springs are a result of a water source formed on a hill intersects a
flowing body of groundwater at or below the local water table.
Streamflow
1. How does USGS define streamflow? The amount of water flowing in a river.
2. What is a stream? A flowing body of water.
3. Why do rivers exist? Rivers exist because of gravity.
4. Where does water generally seek to flow? Water seeks the center of the earth.
5. What percentage of freshwater is found in rivers? _2.5%
Sublimation
1. What is sublimation? The conversion between solid and a gaseous state with no liquid conversion
in between.
2. What is sublimation, in relation to the water cycle? Sublimation is like when snow or ice changes
straight to a gaseous state.
3. When does sublimation occur? Sublimation occurs when ice or snow is heating.
4. Where on Earth does sublimation happen a lot? It occurs a lot in higher elevation.
5. What is a Chinook Wind and where do they occur? Chinook winds are westerlies from the
pacific and
pass over the Rocky Mountains.

Surface Runoff
1. What is surface runoff? Precipitation hits saturated land and begins to flow overland downhill.
2. When does runoff occur? Runoff occurs when precipitation needs somewhere to go when the land
is all saturated.

Place the letter from the diagram above in the space provided next to its associated term in
the lists below:
[ I] Condensation
[ K] Evapotranspiration
[ E] Groundwater discharge
[ D] Infiltration
[ C] Snowmelt runoff to streams
[M] Streamflow
[ L] Surface runoff
[ A] Water storage in ice and snow
[ ] Desublimation [ ] Plant uptake

[ H] Evaporation
[ O] Freshwater storage
[ F] Groundwater storage
[ B] Precipitation
[ N] Spring
[ P] Sublimation
[ J] Water storage in the atmosphere
[ G] Water storage in oceans

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