Earths Water

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Earths Water
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Aim What happens to water once it hits the
ground?
I. Water Cycle

• Three phases

• Evapotranspiration
• Condensation
• precipitation

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(No Transcript)
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II. What can happen to precipitation?
A. It can runoff from the surface into streams,
lakes, and the ocean
B. It can be stored in the form of ice and snow
on the earths surface
C. It can be evapotranspired back into the
atmosphere from large bodies of water, soil,
plants and animals
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D. It can infiltrate (sink into) the ground and
become ground water
III. Ground Water Porosity
A. Porosity the percentage of open space
between the particles.
B. Porosity is dependent upon
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1. Shape the rounder the particle the greater
the porosity
porosity
angular
rounded
Particle Shape Comparison
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2. How tightly packed the particles are. The
looser the packing, the higher the porosity.
porosity
loose
close
Particle Packing Comparison
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3. How well sorted (the same shape and size) the
material is. The more sorted the material is,
the higher the porosity is.
porosity
unsorted
sorted
Particle Sorting Comparison
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IV. Infiltration
A. Before runoff and evapotranspiration, water
will infiltrate the earths surface and become
part of the groundwater.
1. In order for water to move in through the
surface, the surface must be permeable (the
ability to pass through) and unsaturated.
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permeability
Increasing particle size
Permeability Particle Size Comparison
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Zone of Aeration
Water table
Zone of Saturation
Bedrock (impermeable)
Soil Profile for Infiltration
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• Zone of aeration portion of ground through
  which water passes until the water reaches the
  zone of saturation
• Zone of saturation portion of the ground filled
  with water and has an upper boundary called the
  water table.
• Water table the top of the zone of saturation.
• Bedrock solid rock underneath soil or exposed
  rock at earths surface.

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2. The depth of the water table is dependent
upon

• The type of earth materials
• Thickness of those materials
• The amount of water infiltrating the ground
• The characteristics of the surrounding materials
  (porosity).