Geo - Hydrological Cycle

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What drives the hydrological cycle?

• Solar energy

  • Heating of atmosphere

• Gravitational Field

  • Water moves from high to low places

• Three phases of water

  • solid, liquid, gas

What percent of Earth’s water is freshwater?

2.5% (96.5% salt)

Freshwater distributions

• Surface 1.2%

• Ground 30.1%

• Glaciers and ice caps 68.7%

How many gallons of water fall when 1 inch of water falls on 1 acre of land

27,154 gallons

wilting point

minimum soil water content a plant needs to avoid permanent wilting

water balance components

• precipitation

• evapotranspiration

• streamflow

• soil moisture

• ground water

overland flow

surface flow to stream

interflow

ground water flow to stream

return flow

ground water that returns to the surface on the way to stream

how does water flow through soil?

• saturated: horizontal

• field capacity: vertical

• typical conditions: root capture

• wilting point: no flow

unsaturated water flows through different soils

aquifer

can store and transmit water fast enough to supply wells

ex. gravel

confining layer

little to no permeability

ex. sand

aquitard

low permeability

ex. clay

recharge

• high areas

• deeper unsaturated zones

• flow lines diverge

discharge

• low areas

• shallow unsaturated zones

• flow lines converge