Water Cycle Webquest2

Name _________________________________________________
Date ______________________
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? An isolated system is not
possible in nature because there is always an exchange of energy between a system and its surroundings.
Earth is among the third type, a closed system in which solar radiation comes into the Earth's atmosphere
and onto the planet itself, but matter does not leave the
Earth________________________________________________________________
2.
How does water the water amount from millions of years ago compare to todays water amount? ___
About three million years ago the oceans could have been up to 165
feet______________________________________________________
3.
Out of all the water on Earth, what percentage is usable by humans?
___________________.3%__________
4.
Of the water usable by humans, where is the largest percentage of that water found?
________________ glaciers
_______________________________________________________________________________________
5. Complete the following diagram:
3%
30.1
97
%
68.7
%
0.3
%
87
1
1
6. Of the freshwater, where is most of the water tied up? Glaciers

7. Of the remaining freshwater, where is the largest majority of that water found?
Glaciers
8. What percentage of freshwater is found as surface water? .3%
9. Compare the amount of freshwater to the amount of saltwater in cubic kilometers:
_______________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
How Much Water Is There?

1. How
much
of
the
Earths
surface
is
covered
by
water?
______71%____________________________
2. Besides the ocean, where else does water exist? ____ Water vapor, rivers, lakes,
glaciers and aquifers____________________________
3. Where does most of the water people and other life on Earth come from? Glaciers
4. Compare the amount of groundwater to surface water: ____ Groundwater= 20,
while surface water= 80%__________________________________
5. What term is used for the storage place of groundwater? _______ Aquifers _____
6. How is groundwater recharged? When precipitation seeps into the
ground_______________
7. How
does
groundwater
recharge
rivers?
Also
through
seepage._____________________________________________
8. In 2005, how much surface water did the United States use? ___ We used 328
billion gallons of water
9. In the same time period, how much groundwater did people use? ____ 82.6
billion gallons per day
The Water Cycle

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?
________Evaporation,and,transpiration
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?
About 1 inch
Condensation
1. Define condensation: when water forms from a liquid to a vapor or gaseous state
2. Why is condensation an important part of the water cycle? Its role is to form the clouds
3. Besides clouds, what else can happen due to condensation? It returns back down to the
surface of the earth
Evaporation
1. Define evaporation: when water forms from a liquid to a vapor or gaseous state
2. Where does most of the evaporated water come from? Ocean
3. What is necessary in order for evaporation to occur? Heat
4. What percentage of the water evaporated from the ocean is transported over land and falls as
precipitation? About 10%
5. How long does an evaporated water molecule stay in the air? About 10 days
Evapotranspiration
1. According to this website, define evapotranspiration: (beneath the diagram) it is the sum of
evaporation from the surface plus plant transpiration
2. Define transpiration: the release of water from the leaves of plants
3. How much water in the atmosphere is due to transpiration: about 10%
4. How does a plant transpire? When the water evaporates from the surface of the leaf
5. How much can an oak tree transpire during one day? 40000 gallons
Freshwater Storage
1. What bodies of water does surface water include: Ponds, lakes, streams, canals, freshwater
wetlands and reservoirs.
2. What processes are included in inflows to surface water? Precipitation, overland runoff,
groundwater seepage, and tributary inflows.
3. What processes are included in outflows of surface water? Evaporation, water into
groundwater movement, and withdraws made by humans.
Groundwater Discharge
1. Describe why groundwater is an important part of the water cycle: it is used for consumption
and irrigation
2. Where is the majority of groundwater found? Between subsurface materials and rocks
3. When are aquifers formed? The spaces between rock particles and soil are flooded with water
4. Explain how water becomes part of the groundwater: the precipitation that falls onto the surface
of the land is the infiltrating the found beneath us, thus ground water
5. What percentage of freshwater is groundwater? 30.1%
Groundwater Storage
1. Where does most of the water in groundwater come from? From precipitation that seeps into
the ground
2. Describe the difference between the saturated zone and the unsaturated zone: Unsaturated
zones are in the upper layer of soil where water is stored for varying amounts of time, changing
over time. Saturated zones are below the unsaturated zones, where the spaces left between
rocks, cracks, and pores are covered in water.
4. Label the
Precipitation
Recharge to
water table
diagram below:
Water
table
Unsaturated
zone
Saturated Zone below the

water table
Ice, Snow, and Glaciers

1. What is meat by storage, in relation to the water cycle? Large amounts of water are stored
in the ground.
2. Where is the 90% of Earths ice mass found? In Antarctica
3. Where is the rest of it found? Greenland
4. What majority of freshwater is held in ice caps and glaciers? 68.7%
Infiltration
1. What is happening to water during infiltration? process by which water on the ground surface
enters the soil
2. What happens to water that infiltrates the shallow soil layer? The water will move vertically and
horizontally through the subsurface material and soil, the seeping into a stream into a stream bank
3. What happens to the water that infiltrates deeper? The aquifers are then recharged
4. What is the greatest factor affecting infiltration? Precipitation
5. What happens to rain, once the soil is saturated? It forms puddles on the surface
Oceans
1. What percentage of water is found in the ocean? 70%
2. What percentage of evaporated water comes from the ocean? 90%
Precipitation
1. What forms of water can precipitation take? Visible
2. How does most precipitation fall? Rain
3. What has to happen before water can fall as precipitation? Condensation
4. How do water droplets grow? water vapor will go from the water droplets to the ice crystals,
causing the ice crystals to grow larger at the expense of the water
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? _________
Cold
2. What percentage of freshwater in the western states comes from snowmelt runoff? _________
75%
Springs
1. What are springs a result of? Of an aquifer being filled up to where the water overflows, then
the water is above the earths surface
Streamflow
1. How does USGS define streamflow? An amount of water in a river
2. What is a stream? a small, narrow river
3. Why do rivers exist? water flowing in rivers comes from precipitation runoff from the
surrounding landscape
4. Where does water generally seek to flow? Ocean
5. What percentage of freshwater is found in rivers? 0.002%
Sublimation
1. What is sublimation? the transitions of a substance directly from the solid to the gas phase
without passing through the intermediate liquid phase
2. What is sublimation, in relation to the water cycle? Sublimation is the conversion between the
solid and the gaseous phases of matter, with no intermediate liquid stage
3. When does sublimation occur? occurs more readily when certain weather conditions are
present, such as low relative humidity and dry winds
4. Where on Earth does sublimation happen a lot? south side of Mt. Everest
5. What is a Chinook Wind and where do they occur? a warm dry wind that blows down the
east side of the Rocky Mountains at the end of winter. There is little else more anticipated
by Albertans during the frosty and frigid winter months than a blast of warm air, blowing over
the southern portion of the province as winds make their way down the eastern slopes of
the Canadian Rockies.
Surface Runoff
1. What is surface runoff? is water, from rain, snowmelt, or other sources, that flows over the land
surface, and is a major component of the water cycle
2. When does runoff occur? This might occur because soil is saturated to full capacity, because
rain arrives more quickly than soil can absorb it, or because impervious areas (roofs and
pavement) send their runoff to surrounding soil that cannot absorb all of it
Place the letter from the diagram above in the space provided next to its associated term in
the lists below:
[ I ] Condensation
[ k] Evapotranspiration
[F ] Groundwater discharge
[ D] Infiltration
[ C] Snowmelt runoff to streams
[ E] Streamflow
[ O] Surface runoff
[ A] Water storage in ice and snow
[M] Desublimation [ h ] Plant uptake
[ H] Evaporation
[ E] Freshwater storage
[F ] Groundwater storage
[ B] Precipitation
[ E] Spring
[L ] Sublimation
[ J ] Water storage in the atmosphere
[ G] Water storage in oceans

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Name _________________________________________________

The Water Cycle

Where is Earths Water?

6. Of the freshwater, where is most of the water tied up? Glaciers

How Much Water Is There?

The Water Cycle

Saturated Zone below the

Ice, Snow, and Glaciers

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