The purpose of the article below is to tell what the hydrosphere is, to show how rich our planet is in water resources, and how important it is not to upset the balance in nature. Planet Earth is covered in three shells. This is the atmosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere. Thanks to their interaction, life was born. They accumulate solar energy and distribute it among all organisms.
Consider what the hydrosphere is.
Definition
Simply put, this is the water shell of the Earth. These are all kinds of sources of precious fluid. This includes the seas, oceans, rivers, glaciers, underground rivers and much more. Part of the hydrosphere is water in the atmosphere and in all living organisms. But the largest share is the salt water of the oceans.
If you consider from a scientific point of view what the hydrosphere is, then this is a complex of sciences, which includes a whole division of research disciplines. Consider what sciences are studying the components of the hydrosphere.
- Hydrology. The research area is surface water bodies of land: rivers, lakes, swamps, canals, ponds, reservoirs.
- Oceanology - studies the oceans.
- Glaciology - ground ice.
- Meteorology is a fluid in the atmosphere and its effect on weather and climate.
- Hydrochemistry is the chemical composition of water.
- Hydrogeology - deals with groundwater.
- Geocryology - solid water: glaciers and eternal snows.
- Hydrogeochemistry is a young science that studies the chemical composition of the entire hydrosphere.
- Hydrogeophysics is also a new direction, the basis of which is the physical properties of the Earth’s water shell.
The composition of the hydrosphere
What does it consist of? The hydrosphere includes all kinds of moisture on the planet. Its volume is hard to imagine. Scientists estimate that it is 1370.3 million km 3 . In the entire history of the planet, the mass of water has never changed.
An interesting fact: every fifth person dreams of drinking plenty of water. But no matter how much he drinks, he fails to do so.
Consider the composition of the hydrosphere:
- World Ocean. It occupies a large part, or rather, almost the entire volume of the water shell. It includes four oceans: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Arctic.
- Water sushi. This includes all sources of precious fluid that can be found on the continents: rivers, lakes, swamps.
- Groundwater is a huge supply of moisture in the lithosphere.
- Glaciers and permanent snow, which account for a significant part of the water reserves.
- Water in the atmosphere and in living organisms.
The percentage of the hydrosphere sources of the Earth is presented in the figure below.
The water cycle in nature
Water is a unique substance. Its molecules have such a strong bond that it is very difficult to separate them. But its greater uniqueness lies in the fact that, unlike other important elements, it can exist in natural conditions in three states at once: liquid, solid, gaseous.
The water cycle in nature plays an important function of the distribution of moisture on the planet. The main source of fresh fluid in the atmosphere is the oceans. From it, water, under the influence of the sun, evaporates, turns into clouds and moves in the atmosphere, but salt remains. So a fresh fluid appears.
There are two cycles: large and small.
A large water cycle concerns the renewal of the oceans. And since most of the moisture passes into the gaseous state precisely from its surface, it returns there together with the effluents, where it falls in the form of precipitation.
If a large cycle covers the renewal of water on the planet as a whole, then a small one only applies to land. The same process is observed there: evaporation, condensation, precipitation and runoff into the oceans.
More water evaporates in the ocean than in rivers and lakes. Precipitation, on the contrary, is plentiful on the continents, and little over open water expanses.
Cycle Speed
The constituents of the Earth’s hydrosphere are updated at different speeds. The fastest way is the supply of water in the human body is updated, since it consists of 80% of it. Within a few hours with heavy drinking, you can completely restore balance.
But glaciers and the oceans are updating very slowly. It takes almost 10 thousand years for completely new icebergs to appear in the polar latitudes. One can imagine how much ice already exists in the Arctic and Antarctica.
Water in the oceans cleans up a little faster - in 2.7 thousand years.
The nutritional power of living organisms
Water is a unique chemical compound of hydrogen and oxygen. It has no smell, taste, color, but easily absorbs them from the environment. Its molecules are difficult to separate, but at the same time they contain ions of chlorine, sulfur, carbon, sodium.
Life was born in water, and it is found in all organisms that make metabolism. There are animals whose bodies are almost liquid. Jellyfish is 99% water, only 75% fish. In juice plants, there is even more: in cucumber - 95%, carrots - 90%, apple - 85%, potatoes - 80%.
Water shell functions
The hydrosphere of the Earth performs several vital functions for the planet:
- Accumulative. All the energy of the sun first of all falls into the ocean. There it is stored and distributed around the planet. This process ensures the preservation of an average positive temperature.
- Oxygen production. Most of this substance is produced by phytoplankton located in the oceans.
- Fresh water distribution due to cycles.
- Provides resources. The oceans contain significant reserves of food, as well as other useful extractive resources.
- Recreational potential for a person who uses the ocean for their own purposes: for energy, cleaning, cooling, entertainment.
Hydrosphere and man
Depending on how water is used, two separate categories can be distinguished:
- Water consumers. This includes those branches of human activity that use a transparent liquid to achieve their goals, but do not return it. There are a lot of types of such activity: non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy, agriculture, chemical, light industry and others.
- Water users. These are industries that use water in their activities, but always return it. This includes sea and river transport, fisheries, services for the delivery of water to the population, water utilities.
An interesting fact: for a city with a population of 1 million people, 300 thousand m 3 of clean drinking water per day are needed. At the same time, the liquid returned to the ocean is contaminated, unsuitable for living organisms, and the ocean has to clean it on its own.
Classification by nature of use
For humans, water has different meanings. We eat, we wash and clean in it. Therefore, scientists have proposed the following gradation:
- Drinking water - pure water without toxic and chemical substances, suitable for use in raw form.
- Mineral water - water enriched with mineral components, which is extracted from the bowels of the earth. Used for medicinal purposes.
- Industrial water - used in production, passes one or two stages of treatment.
- Heat energy water - the fence is taken from thermal springs.
Process water
Water for technical needs can be completely different. In agriculture, it is used for irrigation, and it is not required to clean it. For energy purposes, water is converted into a gaseous state for space heating. Hospitals, baths, and laundries receive household liquid with less purification.
Water used in industry is often contaminated. But more than half of the consumed volume is used to cool the units. In this case, it is not contaminated and can be reused.
Hydrosphere problems
The oceans are an environment that is capable of self-cleaning. But there are 7 billion people on Earth, and the rate of pollution is much greater than the rate of renewal. This can lead to irreparable consequences. Consider the main sources of pollution of the hydrosphere:
- Industrial, agricultural, domestic wastewater.
- Coastal household waste.
- Oil and oil pollution.
- Heavy metals entering the oceans.
- Acid rains resulting in the destruction of the areola of living things.
- Transport.
Pollution of the seas and oceans
Man and the hydrosphere must exist in the world. After all, from how we will relate to the source of our lives, nature will repay us. Already, the surface of the oceans and seas is very heavily polluted by oil products and waste. More than 20% of the surface of the water is covered with an impermeable film of oil, through which oxygen and steam cannot be exchanged. This leads to the death of ecosystems.
Due to significant pollution there is a depletion of natural resources. A good example is the Aral Sea. Since 1984, there is no longer a fish here.
Since 1943, the hydrosphere has been contaminated with hazardous radioactive substances. They were buried on the seabed. Since 1993, this is prohibited. But for 50 years of disastrous impact, a person could cause irreparable harm to the ocean.
Danger from rivers and lakes
Land surface water pollution is even more dangerous for humans. After all, it is from there that fresh water is withdrawn for household needs and for consumption. Today in Russia, most rivers are heavily polluted. Here is the rating of the most dangerous reservoirs in Russia:
- Volga;
- Ob;
- Yenisei;
- Irtysh;
- Kama;
- Iset
- Lena;
- Pechora;
- Eye;
- Tom.
Environmental issues
Humanity must understand that the more attention we pay to the preservation of purity in nature, the greater the chance for our descendants to live in a favorable environment. In the pursuit of money and profit, many enterprises neglect the basic rules of cleaning. The main objective is the construction of purification filters in coastal areas, in places of the greatest accumulation of waste and providing enterprises with modern technologies aimed at environmental safety.
Afterword
From this article we learned what the hydrosphere is, what its main components are, and what problems the oceans face. The task of each of us is to understand that the world was not created by man, but by nature, and we, mercilessly exploiting it, without realizing the consequences.