The accumulation of natural water on the surface of the earth, as well as in the upper layer of the earth's crust, are called water bodies. They have a hydrological regime and participate in the water cycle in nature. The hydrosphere of the planet consists mainly of them.
Groups
The structure, hydrological features and environmental conditions subdivide water bodies into three groups: reservoirs, watercourses and water structures of a special kind. Watercourses are rivers, canals, streams, that is, water located in the recesses of the Earth's surface, where the movement is translational, downhill. Ponds are located where the earth's surface decreases and the movement of water is slower compared to drains. These are swamps, ponds, reservoirs, lakes, seas, oceans.
Special water bodies are mountain and cover glaciers, as well as all groundwater (artesian basins, aquifers). Water bodies and drains can be temporary (drying out) and permanent. Most water bodies have a catchment - this is that part of the thickness of soils, rocks and soils that give their water to the ocean, sea, lake or river. On the border of adjacent catchments, a watershed is defined, which can be underground or surface (orographic).
Hydrographic network
Watercourses and reservoirs in the aggregate, enclosed within a certain territory, are a hydrographic network. However, most often glaciers located here are not taken into account, and this is wrong. Absolutely the entire list of water bodies located on the earth's surface of a given territory should be considered a hydrographic network.
Rivers, streams, canals, being part of the hydrographic network, that is, watercourses, are called a channel network. If only large, that is, rivers, are present from the watercourses, this part of the hydrographic network will be called the river network.
Hydrosphere
The hydrosphere is formed by all the natural waters of the Earth. Neither the concept nor its boundaries have yet been determined. According to tradition, the most commonly understood is the intermittent shell of the globe, which is located within the crust, including in its thickness, representing a combination of seas and oceans, groundwater and land water resources: glaciers, snow, swamps, lakes and rivers. Only atmospheric moisture and water contained in living organisms are not included in the concept of the hydrosphere.
The concept of the hydrosphere is interpreted both broadly and more narrowly. The latter is when the concept of the hydrosphere means only surface water that lies between the atmosphere and the lithosphere, and in the first case, all participants in the global circulation are included: the natural waters of the planet, and underground, the upper part of the earth’s crust, and atmospheric moisture, and water located in living organisms. This is closer to the concept of “geosphere”, where a rather poorly studied problem of the interpenetration of different geospheres (atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere) arises - the boundaries of the biosphere, according to Vernadsky.
Earth's water resources
The world's water bodies contain approximately 1, 388 million cubic kilometers of water, a huge volume distributed over water bodies of all types. The world's oceans and the seas that are associated with it - this is the main part of the water belonging to the hydrosphere, 96.4 percent of the total. In second place are glaciers and snowfields: 1.86 percent of all the waters of the planet are here. The remaining water bodies accounted for 1.78%, and this is a huge number of rivers, lakes, swamps.
The most valuable waters are fresh, but they are quite few on the planet: 36, 769 thousand cubic kilometers, that is, only 2.65 percent of all planetary water. And most, glaciers and snowfields, which contain more than seventy percent of all fresh water on Earth. Fresh lakes have 91 thousand cubic kilometers of water, a quarter of a percent, fresh groundwater: 10 530 thousand cubic kilometers (28.6%), rivers and reservoirs account for hundredths and thousandths of a percent. There is not much water in the swamps, but their area on the planet is huge - 2 682 million square kilometers, that is, more than lakes, and especially reservoirs.
Hydrological cycle
Absolutely all objects of aquatic biological resources are connected with each other indirectly or directly, since they are united by the water cycle on the planet (global hydrological cycle). The main component of the cycle is the river runoff, which closes the links of the continental and oceanic cycles. The largest river flow has the largest river in the world - the Amazon, its water flow makes up 18% of the runoff of all earth rivers, that is 7, 280 cubic kilometers per year.
With the mass of water in the global hydrosphere unchanged over the past forty to fifty years, the amount of the contents of individual water bodies often changes because the water is redistributed. With global warming, melting of both cover and mountain glaciers intensified, permafrost is leaving, the level of the World Ocean has noticeably increased. The glaciers of Greenland, Antarctica, the Arctic islands are gradually melting. Water is a natural resource that is able to renew, because it constantly comes with atmospheric precipitation, which flows through lakes and rivers to form underground reserves, which are the main sources allowing the use of water bodies.
Using
The same water is used, as a rule, many times by different users. For example, first it participates in some technological process, after which it enters the waste water, then another user uses the same water. But despite the fact that water is a replenished and reused source, the use of water bodies does not occur in sufficient quantities, since there is no necessary amount of fresh water on the planet.
A particular shortage of water resources occurs, for example, during drought or other natural phenomena. Rainfall is decreasing, and they are the main source of renewal of this natural resource. Also, sewage discharges pollute water bodies, due to the construction of dams, dams and other structures, the hydrological regime changes, and human needs always exceed the allowable intake of fresh water. Therefore, the protection of water bodies is of paramount importance.
Legal aspect
World waters, of course, are a useful natural resource of the most important environmental and economic importance. Unlike any minerals, water is absolutely essential for human life. Therefore, legal regulation regarding water ownership, the use of water bodies, their parts, as well as distribution and protection issues are of particular importance. Therefore, "water" and "water" are legally different concepts.
Water is nothing more than a combination of oxygen and hydrogen, which exists in a liquid, gaseous, and solid state. Water is absolutely all water that is in all water bodies, that is, in its natural state and on the surface of the land, and in the bowels, and in any form of relief of the earth's crust. The regime for the use of water bodies is regulated by civil law. There is a special water legislation that regulates the use of water in the natural environment and water bodies - water use. Only water in the atmosphere and precipitating in the form of precipitation is not isolated and individualized, since it is part of the composition of the soil.
Security
Safety at water bodies in the winter ensures full compliance with relevant regulations. Autumn ice is extremely fragile until steady frost sets in. In the evening and at night, it can withstand some load, and during the day it quickly heats up from meltwater, which seeps inward, making the ice porous and weak, despite the thickness. During this period, he is the cause of injuries and even deaths.
Ponds freeze very unevenly, first off the coast, in shallow water, then in the middle. Lakes, ponds, where the water is still, and especially if streams do not flow into the reservoir, there are no river beds or underwater keys in it, freeze faster. The current always holds back the formation of ice. The safe thickness for a single person is seven centimeters, for a skating rink - at least twelve centimeters, for a pedestrian crossing - from fifteen centimeters, for cars - at least thirty. If a person nevertheless fell through the ice, then at a temperature of 24 degrees Celsius he can be in the water for up to nine hours without harm to health, but ice at this temperature is a rarity. Usually it is from five to fifteen degrees. In such a situation, a person can survive four hours. If the temperature is up to three degrees, death occurs in fifteen minutes.
Rules of behavior
- In the dark, you can’t go out on ice, as well as in poor visibility: in snowfall, fog, rain.
- You can’t beat the ice with your feet, checking its strength. If at least a little water has appeared under your feet, you need to immediately step back in your tracks with sliding steps, distributing the load over a large area (feet shoulder width apart).
- Follow the beaten paths.
- A group of people must cross the reservoir, observing a distance of 5 meters at least.
- It is necessary to have a twenty-meter strong cord with a deaf loop and a load (the load is needed to throw a failed cord, and the loop so that it passes it under the armpits).
- Parents should not allow children to be unattended in the water: neither fishing nor the rink.
- In alcoholic intoxication, it is better not to approach water bodies, since people in this state react inappropriately to danger.
