Water Bodies PDF

 ~ information literacy ~ critical thinking 'lfi!re is a freshwater crisis in India. For the second largest populated country...

 ~ information literacy ~ critical thinking 'lfi!re is a freshwater crisis in India. For the second largest populated country in the world with 16,er cent of its population, only 4 per cent of the freshwater resources are available. It is estimated: 1 that millions of Indians do not have access to safe drinking water. 1 that women in some parts of the country still have to walk several kilometres to fetch water for their household requirements. Can you list at least ten ways water is wasted by human beings? Two have been done for you. 1. washing the car 2. using fountains and sprinklers 3. _ _ _ _ __ 4. _ _ _ _ _ _ 5. - - - - - - - 6. _ _ _ _ _ _ 7. - - - - - - 8·----== ==9. _____ __ 10. - - - - - - he Earth is known as the 'Blue water evaporates as water vapour, which Planet', as water bodies cover being light in weight, rises in the air. nearly 71 per cent of its surface. 2. On reaching the higher, colder levels of ·1 Ocean and seas contain saline water, which i the atmosphere, it cools and condenses.i makes up for 96.5 per cent of all the water into tiny water droplets that join to form i on the Earth~ Lakes, ponds and rivers contain fresh clouds. s. When the clouds become too heavy and I I water and occupy only 0.5 per cent of the cannot remain suspended in the air, it comes Earth's surface. It is this fresh water that is indispeI?-sable for all organisms, both plants down as precipitation such as rain or snow. Rain is the biggest source of fresh water I ~ E " and animals. ,, on the Earth. The remaining fresh water lies as frozen ice 4. Some of the rainwater seeps underground, sheets of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. some fills up depressions to form lakes, Some also appear as glaciers. on higher while others just flow into rivers and slopes of mountains and some are locked in streams, which carry water to the oceans. the underground water table. 5. The cycle is then repeated. The liquid water component of the Earth including the oceans, seas, lakes, ponds, SALINE WATER BODIES rivers and streams together forms the As we know, the waters of seas and oceans hydrosphere. are saline as they have large proportions of dissolved salts in them. Oceans are larger than THE HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE seas. ' Most of the world's water is being recycled ~y. this continuou, process called the Oceans lildrlogical cycle ori the water cycle. Let us first learn about the vast oceans of Sun heats up the water bodies. The the world. Water Bodical 47 ·$:  ,...---...._ ,.. "\....- -... PRECIPITATJO.-: ; AtER VAPOUR SUN GIVES HEAT FOR ~ t,:< CONDENSES AND EVAPORATION ~ M S CLOUDS PRECIPITATION EVAPORATION Fig. 3.1: the hydrological cycle There are four major oceans. and South America on the western side, and 1. the Pacific Ocean 2. the Atlantic Ocean Europe and Africa on the eastern side. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a submerged, long S. the Indian Ocean 4. the Arctic Ocean mountain chain. It is equidistant between The largest ocean, Pacific Ocean, is almost the continents that lie on either side of the circular in shape. Its area is more than the ocean. Some mountain peaks reach above sea combined area of all the continents. On its level to form islands that are also volcanic edges is the concentration of maximum active in nature, such as Iceland. The coastlines volcanoes, termed as the 'Ring of Fire'. In of Europe and North America are highly the north, it is linked to the Arctic Ocean. indented or irregular in shape. Therefore, Study the map of the major water bodies there are a number of natural harbours on the Atlantic coastline of Europe and North (on the next page), and name the continents America. The Atlantic Ocean has many bordering the Pacific Ocean. Above the shipping routes, linking the ports on either Equator lies the North Pacific Ocean, side of the ocean. This makes the Atlantic and below it lies the South Pacific Ocean. the busiest of all oceans. Large groups of islands (archipelago) such The Indian Ocean is named after India, as Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia are indicating the strategic location of the located in this ocean. country at the head of the ocean. It is roughly The Atlantic is the second largest ocean in triangular in shape. The northern part of the world. The ocean is shaped like the letter the Indian Ocean has Africa in the west, Asia 'S'. The Atlantic borders North America in the north and Australia in the east. ~) 48 (~pphy I" r , NORT11 ATUN11C OCEAN SOUTH ATLAN71C· ·· ~ OCEAN S O U THE R N O CE A N° ANTA"CTICA Fig. 3.2: a map showi~g major water bodies of the world · Did You K11ow? , ·: ·) '-: round regular shipping in this region. But with the melting and decline of Ar~tic ice, e Mariana Trench is the deepest point_ of the navigation has now become p