Groundwater
Water is evaporated from the oceans and the land and returned as rain or snow, forming the hydrologic cycle.
One estimate of global water distribution
Water source | Water volume, in cubic miles | Water volume, in cubic kilometers | Percent of total water | Percent of total freshwater |
Fresh ground water | 2,526,000 | 10,530,000 | 0.8% | 30.1% |
Ground water | 5,614,000 | 23,400,000 | 1.7% | -- |
Total global water | 332,500,000 | 1,386,000,000 | -- | -- |
Source: Gleick, P. H., 1996: Water resources. In Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather, ed. by S. H. Schneider, Oxford University Press, New York, vol. 2, pp.817-823.
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Index
Geophysics concepts
Reference Lutgens & Tarbuck Ch 9 |