HYDROLOGY

Some Water Cycle Facts.. Water has been recycled for about 4 billion years. Since the volcanoes erupted adding water vapor to the air The water cycle gets its energy from the Sun 97% of Earth’s water is salt water. Most of the remaining 3% is stored as Icecaps and Glaciers.

The water cycle is also called the cycle. hydrological

Water that is stored in the oceans and lakes can and become a gas. evaporate

As the water rises through the atmosphere, it cools, condenses and becomes clouds

When the water gets heavy enough it can fall to the ground in the form of different types of precipitation

and flow directly into streams, rivers, or lakes. If the lithosphere (ground) is saturated, the water that has fallen can become and flow directly into streams, rivers, or lakes. runoff

It can also be stored on the surface of the lithosphere as snow or ice known as water retention

If the lithosphere is not saturated, the water will the lithosphere and move into the zone of or the zone of infiltrate aeration saturation

The interface (boundary) between these two zones is called the water table

The roots of plants can reach into the zone of soak up the water, and the water can then re-enter the atmosphere through the process of saturation transpiration

Better Water Cycle Song

runoff runoff water table impermeable bedrock zone of saturation transpiration condensation precipitation runoff zone of aeration evaporation runoff evaporation water table infiltration zone of saturation impermeable bedrock

Zoomable cycle

The amount of open space in the ground (pore space) Porosity = The amount of open space in the ground (pore space) What materials would you need to calculate the porosity of a sample of soil? graduated cylinder water

Which is more porous, a container of: round particles or angular particles tightly packed or loosely packed particles particles c. well-sorted particles or unsorted particles d. large beads or small beads

***Particle size alone does not determine porosity***

Sorting

how fast the water can pass through the material. PERMEABILITY how fast the water can pass through the material.

interconnected spaces PERMEABILITY Which column would allow water to flow through fastest? Why? A, big pieces have big interconnected spaces

If you join sediment from A and D, PERMEABILITY If you join sediment from A and D, what would happen to the permeability? Why? Decreases, because the small particles fill in the spaces

Which is more permeable? PERMEABILITY Which is more permeable? a. small particles or large particles b. frozen ground or unfrozen ground

PERMEABILITY Particle Size

Factors affecting Permeability Particle Size –big particles have big spaces water can flow faster through Sorting –unsorted sediment small pieces fill in the spaces in between big pieces Packing –increased packing decreases pore space making water flow through slower Shape- angular pieces can fit together better than rounder pieces, less pore space for water to flow through

As the porosity, increases, permeability increases

PERMEABILITY Porosity

Capillarity Capillarity – the upward movement of water through a material. Water gets stuck in the open spaces particles will have greater capillarity Smaller

Capillarity

We Want Infiltration! Not Runoff! Why??? More infiltration means more drinking water in our water table!

Runoff will happen if.. The ground is impermeable (water cannot get in). The ground is saturated (there is no room for the water). The water is falling faster than it can infiltrate (rate of precipitation is greater than rate of infiltration). The slope of the land is too steep.

Other Factors affecting Infiltration Urbanization- Decreases infiltration Vegetation – increased vegetation increases infiltration- WHY?? The groundhogs have something to say about this!

RUNOFF AND STREAM DISCHARGE FACTORS AFFECTING RUNOFF AND STREAM DISCHARGE Which will result in greater runoff and stream discharge? an area that is vegetated or an area that is barren an area that has a steep slope or an area that is flat ground that is frozen or ground that is unfrozen d. ground that is saturated or ground that unsaturated