TOPIC 4: WATER MASSES - PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY FORM 5 & 6

byDarasa Huru -January 28, 2025

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TOPIC 4: WATER MASSES - PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY FORM 5 & 6

The following are sub-topics of this topic:

1. Ground water.

2. Inland drainage.

3. Wetlands and swamps.

4. Oceans and seas.

5. Coral coast.

6. Water use and management.

GROUND WATER

GROUND WATER / UNDERGROUND WATER / SUB-TERRAINEAN WATER

What is the ground water?

Ground water (underground water) is the portion of water of hydrosphere situated below the ground surface. OR

Ground water is the water that exists below the surface of the earth.

The underground water is the one which found in the zone of saturation i.e aquifer zone, and this water is a part of hydrological cycle.

What is the hydrological cycle?

Is the continuous movement of water from the atmosphere to the land and toward the sea or oceans then back to the atmosphere. OR

Is the continuous movement of water in the air, on the surface and below the earth's surface, to the ocean and back to the air. OR

Is the conceptual model that describes the storage and movement of water between the biosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and the hydrosphere. OR

Is the constant recycling (circulation) of water molecules between the ocean, atmosphere and the land.

How hydrological cycle occur or formed?

Hydrological cycle occurs where by water continuously move from the atmosphere, the land, the ocean and come back to the atmosphere. From the atmosphere water fall as precipitation forming run off on the earth surface and joining to the sea and ocean. Part of water directly evaporates and part of it absorbed by vegetation and then mostly returned to the atmosphere.

The rest percolates through the soil surface, into the bed rock to form underground water. The hydrological cycle is controlled by the sun energy.

STEPS / PROCESSES FOR OCCURANCE OF HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE

The hydrological cycle can be studied starting any of the following processes. These are: -

1. EVAPORATION

Is the process whereby water changes from liquid into vapour (gas). It is the physical process by which moisture is lost directly into the atmosphere from water surfaces such as oceans, seas,

lakes, rivers, vegetation, and the soil due to the effects of the air movements and the suns heat.

It is an important means of transferring energy between the surface and the air above.

The energy used to evaporate water is called latent energy. Most evaporated water exists as a gas/vapour outside of clouds and evaporation is more intense in the presence of warmer temperatures especially over the oceans and near the equator.