Water
What percentage of Earth’s water is saltwater?
97%
What are the three main sources of surface water?
Lakes, rivers, and streams
What at least one place the water cycle circulate water through?
Oceans, land, and atmosphere
What is a human use of water?
Drinking, agriculture, and industry
What is desalination?
Removing salt and minerals from seawater to make freshwater
Where is most of Earth’s freshwater found?
Ice caps and glaciers
What causes rivers to form?
Gravity pulls runoff downhill
Why is water considered a limited resource?
It is finite and not evenly distributed.
How do dams impact water ecosystems?
They change water flow and local ecology.
Why is desalination not widely used today?
It is costly and requires a lot of energy.
What is the term for freshwater found on Earth’s surface?
Surface water
What happens to surface water in colder regions?
It remains frozen as permafrost
What one natural factors determine where surface water forms?
Atmospheric patterns and temperature
What happens when humans overuse groundwater?
Water shortages can occur.
What resource, besides water, do humans get from the ocean?
Fish, minerals, and fuels
How does water enter underground reservoirs?
It seeps through soil and rock as groundwater
What are two ways lakes can form?
Tectonic movement and glacier retreat
What is runoff, and how does it contribute to rivers?
Water from rain or melting ice that flows downhill and collects in streams
How can pollution enter groundwater supplies?
Through runoff or seepage into aquifers
What is one major consequence of overfishing?
It can cause ecosystem collapse
What is the term for rock layers that store and transmit groundwater?
Aquifers
Why is groundwater not evenly distributed across Earth?
It depends on the type of rock layers in Earth's crust.
What is the term for a large underground reservoir of groundwater?
aquifer
What are two ways human activities are causing water shortages?
Overuse of groundwater and pollution
How might future desalination technology become more efficient?
Using solar energy to power desalination plants