ENV100Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Ocean Current, Surface Runoff, Water Cycle

• School: UTM
• Department: Environment
• Course: ENV100Y5
• Professor: Barbara Murck

Document Summary

Makes earth different from all other planets. Exists in all 3 states, in atmosphere, on surface and underground. Important in moving heat from equator to the poles. Water is locked up in minerals in the earth"s mantle. Makes the mantle elastic; affects the dynamics of plate tectonics. May be the largest reservoir on the planet. Hydrology water science" study of water in the hydrosphere, both on and underground. Only 2. 5% of earth"s water is fresh, most is frozen. Reservoirs: ocean; ice caps and glaciers; groundwater. Processes: precipitation, surface runoff, infiltration, percolation, evaporation. Fluxes: the global hydrologic cycle maintains mass balance total amount of water is fixed, local variations affect supply, like floods and droughts. Water from rains, snowmelt, and springs runs off over the surface. Surface runoff (sheetflow) organizes into rills and gullies, then streams and rivers. Tributary = a smaller river flowing into a larger one. Erosion is the work of rivers carry sediment to the ocean.