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    Water moves through a continuous cycle called the hydrologic cycle. It falls as precipitation and some is intercepted by trees, some infiltrates into the soil, some becomes surface runoff. Water in the soil can percolate deeper and become groundwater that flows into lakes, seas, and rivers. Water evaporates from these water bodies into the atmosphere to form clouds and precipitation and continue the cycle.

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    Water moves through a continuous cycle called the hydrologic cycle. It falls as precipitation and some is intercepted by trees, some infiltrates into the soil, some becomes surface runoff. Water in the soil can percolate deeper and become groundwater that flows into lakes, seas, and rivers. Water evaporates from these water bodies into the atmosphere to form clouds and precipitation and continue the cycle.

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    90 views2 pages

    Geography

    Uploaded by

    anon-944269
    Water moves through a continuous cycle called the hydrologic cycle. It falls as precipitation and some is intercepted by trees, some infiltrates into the soil, some becomes surface runoff. Water in the soil can percolate deeper and become groundwater that flows into lakes, seas, and rivers. Water evaporates from these water bodies into the atmosphere to form clouds and precipitation and continue the cycle.

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    Geography/Hydrologic Cycle

    Water from the clouds falls as precipitation (rain, snow, hail or sleet) on
    the ground.

    Some of the rain water lands on the leaves and branches and is
    intercepted by the trees.
    Part of the water that reaches the ground seeps into the soil subsurface
    through a process called infiltration. Some of the water infiltrates into
    the soil subsurface and flows beneath the surface as throughflow. Water
    is also absorbed by the roots and stored in the trees and plants. Through
    the process of transpiration, trees give off water back to the atmosphere.

    Water in the soil subsurface can move further down into the underlying
    soil and rocks layer through a process called percolation. Continuous
    percolation results in large amounts of underground water which collects
    on top of an impermeable rock layer. This underground water is also
    called the water table. Water from the water table may flow into lakes,
    sea, river as baseflow (groundwater flow).

    Where precipitation exceeds the infiltration rate, the water that does not
    seep fast enough into the soil flows over the land as surface runoff
    (overland flow). Surface runoff is especially high in urban areas where
    there is much impermeable concrete and tarmac.

    Although some rain enters the river, most of its water comes from three
    sources:

    (1) surface runoff


    (2) throughflow and
    (3) baseflow.

    The river may empty into a lake, a sea or an ocean. Water evaporates
    back to the atmosphere from these water bodies to form clouds.

    This cyclical movement of water, from water bodies to the atmosphere


    and, through precipitation, to the land and back to the water bodies, is
    called the hydrological cycle or water cycle.

    The term “evapotranspiration” is used to refer to the loss of moisture


    from the earth’s surface to the atmosphere through evaporation from
    water bodies and water collected on any surface, and transpiration from
    vegetation.

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