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Essay: Features of the water cycle in nature
Contents The emergence of water science The water cycle on Earth The oceanic water cycle The continental water cycle The human need for water Transpiration Bibliographic list The emergence of water science The science of water is the oldest of the sciences.
It appeared together with artificial irrigation.
American hydrologist R. Neis believes that hydrology has existed for 5 thousand years.
The first ideas about the water cycle appeared in China, then in India, where they began to use rain meters.
Rain gauges are devices for determining the amount of precipitation, i.e., where a connection has been established between precipitation and water flow in rivers.
In ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, and the Middle East, this connection was not realized, since the rains that fed, for example, the Nile fell somewhere in its upper reaches, and water was used in the arid lower reaches — in ancient Egypt.
In the Middle East, rains and meltwater of the Tigris and Euphrates also formed far away in the mountains.
In Greece, karst is common, and therefore Aristotle believed that rivers are formed in underground voids.
In Europe, they learned about the water cycle only 500 years ago, and Leonardo da Vinci expressed the first thoughts on this issue.
Leonardo da Vinci was interested in the issues of hydraulics rather than hydrology, but in some of his writings he expressed thoughts that are in tune with modern scientific ideas about the water cycle.
He pointed out the importance of permeable geological rocks that form aquifers in the Alps.
He explained how groundwater is replenished and how low lying sources are fed with water.
Other scientists significantly expanded his ideas, but this happened much later.
More complete ideas about the cycle were presented in a book published in 1580 in France by B. Palissa (1510 — 1589).
For the first time, he pointed to rainfall as the main source of river power.
The founder of the doctrine of the water cycle is considered to be the Frenchman P. Perrault (1611-1680), who is better known as the builder of the water pipeline for the Louvre the royal palace in Paris.
Much later, E. Darwin (1731-1802), the grandfather of Ch.
Darwin, explained the mechanism of the water cycle and proved that precipitation provides the flow of water in rivers and some of the moisture enters the land from the sea.
English astronomer E. Halley (1655 — 1742) was the first to calculate the amount of evaporation from the ocean surface.
A great contribution to the study of the water cycle was made by the Russian scientist A. I. Voeykov (1842-1916), whose words "rivers can be considered as a product of climate" have become a recognized position.
water circulation planet man is the water cycle on Earth.
The water cycle on Earth, or the global hydrological cycle — is a continuous process of water circulation on the planet, the exchange of water between all components of the hydrosphere.
It involves the surface of the globe, the subsoil, the water column and the atmosphere.
The main energy engine of the water cycle is the Sun.
The sun's rays heat the water, and it evaporates intensively.
Water molecules end up in the atmosphere, and half of them are concentrated in the lower one and a half kilometer layer of air.
With altitude, the air temperature gradually drops, so water vapors at a certain height are saturated and condense into water droplets or snow crystals, forming clouds.
Clouds rain down or fall out in the form of snow.
This process goes on continuously.
The evaporated water remains in the atmosphere for only 8-9 days, then returns again to the ocean, lake, swamp, river or the bowels of the Earth.
The water cycle on Earth arose during the formation of the hydrosphere.
The ocean has become the main sink of solar heat and a supplier of water vapor.
Part of the steam is transferred by air currents to land and after condensation falls out in the form of rains and snowfalls.
Streams of rain and meltwater flow down to the riverbeds, and then along the rivers to the ocean.
This is the end of the water exchange cycle between the land and the ocean, but the process itself is endless.
The global water cycle is not closed, since through rift cracks there is an additional inflow of water from the bowels of the planet, which increases the volume of the hydrosphere annually by 0.25 km.
And part of the water vapor, falling into the upper layers of the atmosphere under the influence of solar radiation, decomposes into hydrogen and oxygen and goes into space.
Due to the cycle, there is a continuous water exchange in rivers, lakes, seas, i.e. continuous water renewal.
So.
in the world's oceans, water is completely replaced by evaporation in 2400 years, and river runoff requires 31 thousand years In polar glaciers, which feed on atmospheric moisture, and themselves, like rivers, flow into the ocean, throwing icebergs into it, ice change occurs in about 10 thousand years.
In underground waters, this happens on average for 5 thousand years, and in rivers — in just 12 days.
Thus, the cycle ensures the delivery of water to literally all corners of the globe.
As a result, water permeates everything, supporting life on Earth.
Every living organism can be considered as a part of the hydrosphere involved in the water cycle.
Thanks to water, the reactions necessary for maintaining life occur in organisms, and the body of the organism itself is formed.
Therefore, any organism must pass water through itself, carry out its own water cycle.
As the Russian researcher V. G. Bogorov (1904 — 1971) wrote,"there is no water in the ocean that would not come into contact with living beings."
You can add — and on land, too, there is no.
Almost the entire mass of water on land passes through vegetation and soil organisms, which means that the biota of the land passes the entire volume of the hydrosphere of the planet through itself in about 20 thousand years.
In the ocean, where water is a habitat, a source of food and oxygen, marine organisms pass through the entire volume of the World's oceans in just six months.
Water is an ideal solvent, so any natural water contains dissolved gases and substances, including those necessary for life.
Water flows in rivers, waves and currents in lakes and seas destroy rocks and carry particles and debris over long distances.
The main part of them eventually ends up at the bottom of the seas and lakes.
Thus, water forms the circulation of matter in nature.
Plants use water, carbon dioxide and solar energy to create organic matter to support the life of other organisms on the planet that feed on this organic matter.
In order to create a mass of organic matter, about 1 thousand km3 of water is required annually.
Therefore, it can be argued that the hydrosphere is a product of living organisms, an environment that they have created for themselves.
Everyone needs water.
Animals also participate in the water cycle.
The global water cycle is divided into oceanic and continental.
The oceanic water cycle is a continuous process of evaporation, the transfer of moisture by air currents over the ocean and its precipitation in the form of precipitation on the ocean surface.
During the existence of the planet, the cycle changes depending on the area of the ocean and the volume of the hydrosphere.
Now 458 thousand km3 of water is involved in the ocean cycle every year.
This is almost six such reservoirs as the Caspian Sea.
But 505 thousand km3 evaporates from the ocean surface every year.
The difference of 47 thousand km3 goes to the continents, falling in the form of rain and snow on land.
But thanks to this small part of the oceanic water cycle, a continental cycle appeared on land, which marked the beginning of life on Earth, and then the appearance of man.
The continental water cycle is a continuous process of evaporation from the surface of the land and its reservoirs, the formation of clouds, precipitation, as well as surface and underground water runoff.
Not all the water brought from the ocean to land falls out in the form of precipitation — from 20 to 75% of it passes over the continents in transit and is carried back to the oceans.
The larger the continent and the higher the mountains on it, the more it intercepts ocean moisture.
Therefore, the maximum interception is observed in Eurasia, and the minimum in Australia.
119 thousand km3 of water annually participates in the continental cycle.
Of this mass, 47 thousand km3 is moisture brought from the ocean, which in the process of repeated precipitation in the form of precipitation and evaporation on land, in total, forms 119 thousand km3 of precipitation.
During the cycle, 72 thousand km3 of water evaporates annually on land.
Precipitation on land falls unevenly.
The greatest amount of precipitation in the form of rain is observed in the tropics, on average for the year it is a layer of water 1 m thick.
On the Shillong Plateau in India, 12 m of precipitation falls per year, and on Mount Maezi (Hawaiian Islands) — 14 m.
In 1861, on Cherrapunji (India) - 23 m of precipitation (a seven story house!).
In the driest place on Earth, in Arica (Chile), on average, only 0.8 mm of precipitation falls per year.
The continental water cycle, like the oceanic one, has varied during its existence depending on changes in the ocean surface area and the volume of the hydrosphere.
But in its geological past (not so distant) there were changes that dramatically intensified this cycle.
Human need for water Water is a resource, water is an energy carrier, water is a transport system, water is the basis of life.
Therefore, the calculation of water reserves has been conducted for a long time.
Methods for determining the area and depth of water bodies have been developed, devices for measuring the flow velocity and other physical and chemical characteristics have been created.
All this allows us to estimate the water reserves on our planet.
It is believed that 70.8% of the earth's surface is covered with water.
Therefore, our Earth can be called the Planet of Water, or the Planet of the Ocean.
Indeed, the ocean occupies 360 million km2 with a total surface size of 510 million km2.
But in fact, the hydrosphere is much larger.
Thus, glaciers cover 16.3 million km2, or 11% of the land.
Lakes and watercourses on land occupy a much smaller territory — 2.3 million km2, or 1.7% of the land, swamps and heavily moistened lands 3 million km,or 2% of the land.
Therefore, on Earth, not 360, but 380 million km2 of the surface, or 75%, are constantly covered with water.
So, it is more correct to assume that one third of the globe is constantly covered with water.
However, we should not forget about the winter snow cover.
The largest area on land is occupied in winter by the snow cover of the Northern Hemisphere — 59 million km2.
During this period of the year, the area occupied by the hydrosphere is 439 million km2, or 86% of the entire surface of the globe.
Snow covers paths, roads, sidewalks, and people are forced to put up with the whims and whims of nature.
A person needs fresh water for life and production needs, but the hydrosphere is mainly salt water.
In salt water, 1 liter contains more than I g of dissolved substances.
Only glaciers always contain fresh water.
There are even rivers with salt water.
So, in the north of Russia there is the Solyanka River: it flows through the area with the exits of salt layers to the surface.
And in Central Asia, a river with brackish water flows into Lake Balkhash.
Data is collected regularly as information about water bodies accumulates.
They show that the share of fresh water in the total volume of water on Earth is insignificant: it is only 2%, or 32.1 million km3.
But the main share in this volume — more than 80% — is made up of fresh water from glaciers, which are inaccessible for use not only because the water in them is in solid form, but also because of the remoteness from populated areas.
Fresh waters of glaciers are located either in polar regions, or high in the mountains.
According to archaeological data, water pipelines appeared a long time ago.
The well known water of Ecbatana in Assyrian VIII — VII centuries BC, built on the orders of the legendary Queen of Babylon; the plumbing in Jerusalem — VII — VI centuries BC and Carthage — IV — III centuries BC In ancient Athens, in the time of Pericles (about 490 — 429 BC), when the population reached 200 thousand people, there were 18 water supply.
The first water supply system in Rome was built in 312 BC during the reign of Emperor Trajan (98-117 years), when The Roman Empire reached its maximum borders, and about 1 million people lived in Rome, there was a complex water supply system that supplied up to 1000 liters of water per day for each resident.
(Today, there are only about 500 liters per inhabitant of Rome.)
The great achievements of the Romans in construction, including water pipes, became possible thanks to the invention (or receipt from the Middle East) of a recipe for making cement, as well as lead and ceramic pipes.
Water was supplied to the city from springs in the mountains through lined aqueducts (in the translation from Lat. "aqua" — "water" and "duko" - "I lead") — long stone bridges and canals.
Transpiration Out of 4 billion.
in the geological history of the Earth, the land was lifeless for 3.4 billion years, since life existed only in the ocean.
Life came to land about 600 million years ago.
The land of that distant time is a bare space with an alternation of water impermeable surfaces, rather similar to asphalt squares of cities or dried clay areas, and territories permeable to moisture, such as sandy beaches, stone scree or cracked hard rocks.
After rain or snow melting, the water on the waterproof surfaces quickly flowed into rivers or went into pores and cracks.
The evaporation on the lifeless land was small.
Living creatures that came out of the ocean could not exist in such conditions, so nature "oceanized" the land.
Microorganisms have created a soil on land that has the ability to retain water.
This "soil ocean" on land contains 11.5 thousand km3 of water, which corresponds to a very shallow ocean covering the land with a 10 cm layer of water.
In order for the soil to be replenished with moisture all the time, a large evaporation of water on land is necessary.
And this requires an increase in the area of the evaporating surface.
This work is performed by plants whose leaves intensively evaporate moisture coming from the soil through the stomata.
This type of evaporation is called transpiration.
The leaf surface of plants is huge.
The area of all leaves is 3-4 times larger than the area of the entire land, i.e. it is no smaller in size than the area of the World Ocean.
The area of all leaves is 3-4 times larger than the area of the entire land, i.e. it is no smaller in size than the area of the World Ocean.
In this way, the biota (the totality of all organisms) on land provided a more intensive water cycle.
Controls the continental cycle of vegetation on land.
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- 391 p.
2. Ecology: a textbook for universities / ed. Denisova V. V.-ed.
3rd, ispr.
and dop .
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3. Shilov I. A. Ecology: textbook for universities / I. A. Shilov.
- 4th ed. ster.
- M.: Higher School, 2005 – - 512 p.
4. Danilov Danilyan V. I., Losev K. S. Water consumption: ecological, economic, social and political aspects.
- Moscow: Nauka, 2006.
5. Faschuk D. Ya.
World Ocean.
History.
Geography.
Nature.
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6. Lukyanova T. S. Bottom life on the maps of the World Ocean.
Nature.
2006 № 12.
7.Will humanity survive?
/ / Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
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