Chapter 9
The Hydrosphere
Physical Geography
A Landscape Appreciation, 9/e
Animation Edition
Victoria Alapo, Instructor
Geog 1150
The Hydrosphere
The Hydrologic Cycle
The Oceans
Permanent Ice
Surface Waters
Underground Water
The Hydrologic Cycle
Earth Moisture Inventory (next slide)
Movement of Water
Surface to Air
Air to Surface
On and Beneath Surface
Earth Moisture Inventory
Oceans: 97.2%
Underground water: 0.5%
Glaciers: 2.0%
Surface Water: 0.25% (Rivers / streams, only: 0.0001%)
The Hydrologic Cycle
Moisture Balance
Oceans Versus Continents
The Oceans
Oceans and Seas
Seas, gulf and bays are landlocked or partially landlocked smaller
bodies of water (see map & table, pg 264).
See next slides for various oceans & seas.
Pacific Ocean houses some of the world’s disastrous storms
Pacific Ring of Fire (pg 425 & 430).
Characteristics of Ocean Waters (next slides)
Movement of Ocean Waters
Tides – pg 269. Vertical movement of oceans caused by gravitational
pull of the moon (know this).
Currents – due to wind flow and Coriolis effect (pg 95)
Waves – mostly shapes (pg 590)
Oceans and Seas

Fig. 9-5
Four oceans
Characteristics of Ocean
Waters
Chemical composition – 3.5% salt, by weight!
Temperature – colder with depth, freezing
point is 28 degrees.
Density – denser with depth (more pressure)
Permanent Ice
Glaciers – 2% of water storage (also see
interesting info on pg 271).
Oceanic Ice Forms
Permafrost
Glaciers
Oceanic Ice Forms
Earth’s
Largest Ice
Pack
Extent of
Permafrost
Permafrost –
Permanently frozen
water in subsoil
Surface Waters
Lakes – opposite of islands. Some formed by
glaciers, others by tectonic forces. No size
limit; very small lakes are ‘ponds’. Most are
freshwater. See next slide and pg 275-277.
Swamps and Marshes
Rivers and Streams – interchangeable, but
a stream is smaller.
World’s Largest Lakes
Human Alteration
of Natural Lakes

Fig. 9-C. Aral Sea is
shrinking due to dam
construction and diversion
of water for irrigation of
agricultural land.
Aral Sea

Fig. 9-18, pg 277
Swamps and Marshes
Swamps have trees
Marshes have grasses and rushes
•
Fig. 9-20.
Major Drainage Basins
A drainage basin is all the land drained by a river and its tributaries,
i.e. where all its water comes from.
Rivers and Streams
Underground Water
Aquifers and Aquicludes (next slide)
Zone of Saturation
Water Table – top of saturation zone (next slide)
Cone of Depression (next slides)
Zone of Confined Water – confined water btw 2
aquicludes (see Artesian Well slide)
Artesian Systems
The Ogallala Aquifer
Aquifers and Aquicludes
Aquifers are
permeable
rock that holds
water e.g.
sandstone.
Aquicludes are
impermeable
materials
which hinder
water
movement e.g.
clay
Cone of Depression
This is when water
level drops in a
well, in the shape
of a ‘cone’,
because water is
being taken up
faster than can
flow in to replace
it.
Artesian Well
When a well is dug
and the pressure
is so high that the
water rises to the
surface. It “pumps
itself”. Pg 283.
Artesian System
The Ogallala
Aquifer
Found in the Great
Plains (Midwest U.S.).
Allows farmers to
irrigate, but it’s being
endangered.