The Hydrosphere
What is the hydrosphere and how does
it influence the environment?
Earth’s Water
The Earth consists mostly of water, this is the reason why Earth is
called blue planet.
Bodies of Salt Water
•Nearly 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans.
• 97.5% of water on Earth is salt water, salt water or seawater has an
average 3.5%salinity.
•Salinity refers to the proportion of dissolved salts to pure water in ppt. The
amount may seem small but the actual quantity is huge. If all the water in
the ocean were to evaporate a 60 meter layer of salt would cover the entire
ocean floor.
Where do the dissolved salts come from?
Bodies of Salt Water
1.Chemical weathering of rocks on land carried by streams to the
oceans at rate of 2.5 billion tons per year
2.Earth’s interior: during volcanic eruptions, large quantities of water
and gases are emitted to Earth’s surface.
•Salt water cannot be used for drinking, farming, or manufacturing.
Earth’s Water
Bodies of Freshwater, only 2.5%
•More than two-thirds of the world’s scarce freshwater is
frozen in glaciers.
Bodies of Freshwater
•Less than one-third of a percent of freshwater is found in
lakes, rivers, and streams and their tributaries.
Bodies of Freshwater
•Aquifers and groundwater,30.8%, are important sources of
freshwater found underground within the Earth.
•0.3% is easily accessible in lakes and river systems.
Inland Waters
• Inland waters are all the freshwater resources found on the continents
(lakes, rivers, groundwater)
• A watershed is an area of land in which all inland waters drain into the
same larger body of water (also called catchment area or drainage basin)
• ex: ANGAT WATERSHED- NORZAGARAY-SAN JOSE BULACAN
• MAGAT WATERSHED- IFUGAO,ISABELA,NUEVA VIZCAYA
• PANTABANGAN-CARRANGLAN WATERSHED-NUEVA ECIJA, NUEVA
VIZCAYA,AURORA
• UPPER AGNO RIVER- BENGUET-IFUGAO, MOUNTAIN PROV., NUEVA
VISCAYA
What is a watershed?
Why study major bodies of
water?
• Water covers nearly ¾ of the earth’s surface
• More than 50% of the world’s population lives
within an hour of the coast
• Plays a role in both climate and day-to-day
weather
• FOOD!
– Cost of your food could depend on it
Salty water!
DEAD SEA FACTS:
• Really a large lake
• Water gets in, but not
out!
– Fed by River Jordan
– Evaporation only way
out
• Has nearly 10 times the
salinity of the oceans!
Dead Sea was named – Leads to increased
because it had no life! density
Due to its high salinity
The Oceans
• Five major oceans
– Pacific Ocean
– Atlantic Ocean
– Arctic Ocean
– Indian Ocean
– Antarctic Ocean
Ocean is a body of saltwater with almost no boundaries and
limitless volume.
Sea is part of an ocean that is partially surrounding a landform.
Season
• Oceans warm slightly in summer and cool
slightly in winter.
• The changes in temperature are less
pronounced than on the land because
water loses or gains heat much more
slowly than land.
Latitude
• Ocean waters are 25oC to 28oC at the
equator and only 12oC to 17oC in the
temperate zones.
• They are colder still at extreme northern
and southern latitudes (<10oC).
ST
EST
Subsurface Currents
• Cold water is more dense and tends to
sink
• High salinity water is also more dense and
sinks below less saline water
Pollution and Degradation of
Water Resources
• Chemical pollution metals, mercury, PCB’s, mine drainage
• PCB- polychlorinated biphenyl ex. Plasticizers in paints, plastics,
rubber products
• Thermal pollution heat discharge from factories can decrease
oxygen content and lead to fish kills
• Oil spills 6 million tonnes per year
• Plastics north Pacific Gyre an ocean “garbage dump”
Fish Kill
EST
SE
Oil Spills
EST
SE
North Pacific Trash Gyre
EST
SE
Eutrophication
• Farming activities add excess fertilizers to rivers
and lakes (mostly phosphorus and nitrogen).
• These excess fertilizers can stimulate algae
growth.
• Excess algae growth can then lead to algae
blooms, toxins being produced, reduced oxygen
levels, fish kills and green scum forming on
lakes.
• This whole process is called eutrophication.
Eutrophication
EST
ES
Eutrophication
experiment
conducted by
the University of
Manitoba.
Can you guess
to which side of
the lake fertilizer
was added?
EST
ES
Future threats
•The world’s oceans face a number of threats,
which in most cases are not currently managed
globally:
Increasing amounts of Widespread and Acidification from
land-derived garbage in continued over-fishing. increased carbon
the oceans, especially dioxide absorbed by the
plastics. oceans.
Increased use of the Disagreements over the An expansion of oil and
oceans for cruising and extent of EEZs, leading gas drilling, and ocean-
tourism, raising the risks to inter-state conflict. floor mining for
of pollution incidents. minerals, as deep-sea
technology improves.
Hodder & Stoughton 2017
