The global mid-ocean ridge system is the largest single volcanic feature on the Earth, encircling it like the seams of a baseball. Here the Earth’s crust is spreading, creating new ocean floor and literally renewing the surface of our planet. Older crust is recycled back into the mantle elsewhere on the globe, typically where plates collide. The mid-ocean ridge consists of thousands of individual volcanoes or volcanic ridge segments which periodically erupt. |
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Ocean Ridges
Friday, January 21, 2011
Watercycle
This is how much water we have on our Earth
Water is an integral part of life on this planet. It is an odorless, tasteless, substance that covers more than three-fourths of the Earth's surface. Most of the water on Earth, 97% to be exact, is salt water found in the oceans. We can not drink salt water or use it for crops because of the salt content. We can remove salt from ocean water, but the process is very expensive.
Only about 3% of Earth's water is fresh. Two percent of the Earth's water (about 66% of all fresh water) is in solid form, found in ice caps and glaciers. Because it is frozen and so far away, the fresh water in ice caps is not available for use by people or plants. That leaves about 1% of all the Earth's water in a form useable to humans and land animals. This fresh water is found in lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, and in the ground. (A small amount of water is found as vapor in the atmosphere.)
Also known as the hydro cycle
The water cycle is called the hydrologic cycle. In the hydrologic cycle, water from oceans, lakes, swamps, rivers, plants, and even you, can turn into water vapor. Water vapor condenses into millions of tiny droplets that form clouds. Clouds lose their water as rain or snow, which is called precipitation. Precipitation is either absorbed into the ground or runs off into rivers. Water that was absorbed into the ground is taken up by plants. Plants lose water from their surfaces as vapor back into the atmosphere. Water that runs off into rivers flows into ponds, lakes, or oceans where it evaporates back into the atmosphere.
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