What does the hydrosphere study. Hydrosphere - definition, composition and structure, interesting facts

Like many boys, I dreamed of becoming a sailor, and the topic of water interested me since my early childhood. O hydrosphere I heard it for the first time in the lessons of natural history from my first teacher. I was surprised at the time that all rivers, seas, oceans, and even glaciers can be combined with such a beautiful name.

I read a lot on this topic and willingly share my knowledge and observations. But let's start with a definition.

Hydrosphere - what is it

As all encyclopedias and textbooks say, The hydrosphere is one of the shells of the Earth, namely the water. The picture below will help us most fully present its composition.

Most of all the water on the planet is not suitable for drinking and irrigation. because it salty waters of the seas and oceans. Suitable for these needs fresh water, part her is deep underground, the other part - in a frozen state in the form of glaciers, and we can use only its negligible fraction, which is on the surface. Hydrosphere extends up to 9 kilometers(snowy Everest peaks) and on depth up to 11 kilometers (Mariinsky depression). It is believed that it was in this shell that all life on Earth originated.

Unique properties of water

Everyone knows water formula (H2O), reaffirming that it is a chemical compound, colorless, tasteless and odorless.

It is the only one that can be in different states:

liquid;
solid (ice), at temperatures below 0 degrees;
gaseous (vapours), at a temperature of 100 degrees.

Water wonderful dissolves some elements. She happens to be the most common substance on the ground. Even a person is 80% water, a cucumber is 95%, and a jellyfish is 99% at all.

Environmental problems of the hydrosphere

It's scary to think what would happen if the hydrosphere will suddenly disappear. Then all living things will perish overnight. Of course, this is a simulated situation, but people should think about preserving this earthly shell.

At this stage humanity continues to neglect the hydrosphere, naively believing that there is a lot of water, enough for everyone for many years. This is a wrong judgment, there are regions where there is very little of it. However, anything is thrown into the water everywhere. The following types of contaminants can be distinguished:

mechanical (sand, ash, dust, etc.);
thermal;
chemical and radioactive;
organic and surface (oil, chemical compounds, animal waste).

At the same time, it must be remembered that the hydrosphere actively interacts with the rest of the Earth's shells. All the dirt from it goes to them. So what is the hydrosphere? This is not only all the water on the planet, but also necessary conditions of our existence, which must be protected.

Hydrosphere - the water shell of our planet, includes all water, chemically unbound, regardless of its state (liquid, gaseous, solid). The hydrosphere is one of the geospheres located between the atmosphere and the lithosphere. This discontinuous envelope includes all oceans, seas, continental fresh and salt water bodies, ice masses, atmospheric water, and water in living things.

Approximately 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by the hydrosphere. Its volume is about 1400 million cubic meters, which is 1/800 of the volume of the entire planet. 98% of the waters of the hydrosphere is the World Ocean, 1.6% is enclosed in continental ice, the rest of the hydrosphere falls on the share of fresh rivers, lakes, groundwater. Thus, the hydrosphere is divided into the World Ocean, groundwater and continental water, and each group, in turn, includes subgroups of lower levels. So, in the atmosphere, water is in the stratosphere and troposphere, on the earth's surface the waters of the oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, glaciers are released, in the lithosphere - the waters of the sedimentary cover, the foundation.

Despite the fact that the bulk of water is concentrated in the oceans and seas, and only a small part of the hydrosphere (0.3%) accounts for surface water, it is they that play the main role in the existence of the Earth's biosphere. Surface water is the main source of water supply, watering and irrigation. In the water exchange zone, fresh groundwater is rapidly renewed in the course of the general water cycle, therefore, with rational exploitation, it can be used indefinitely.

During the development of the young Earth, the hydrosphere was formed during the formation of the lithosphere, which, over the geological history of our planet, has released a huge amount of water vapor and underground magmatic waters. The hydrosphere was formed during the long evolution of the Earth and the differentiation of its structural components. Life was born in the hydrosphere for the first time on Earth. Later, at the beginning of the Paleozoic era, the emergence of living organisms on land took place, and their gradual settlement on the continents began. Life without water is impossible. The tissues of all living organisms contain up to 70-80% water.

The waters of the hydrosphere constantly interact with the atmosphere, the earth's crust, the lithosphere, and the biosphere. At the boundary between the hydrosphere and the lithosphere, almost all sedimentary rocks are formed that make up the sedimentary layer of the earth's crust. The hydrosphere can be considered as part of the biosphere, since it is completely populated by living organisms, which, in turn, affect the composition of the hydrosphere. The interaction of the waters of the hydrosphere, the transition of water from one state to another manifests itself as a complex water cycle in nature. All types of water cycle of various volumes represent a single hydrological cycle, during which the renewal of all types of water is carried out. The hydrosphere is an open system, the waters of which are closely interconnected, which determines the unity of the hydrosphere as a natural system and the mutual influence of the hydrosphere and other geospheres.

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The purpose of the article below is to tell what the hydrosphere is, to show how rich our planet is in water resources, and how important it is not to upset the balance in nature. The planet Earth is covered with three shells. These are the atmosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere. Through their interaction, life was born. They accumulate solar energy and distribute it among all organisms.

Consider what the hydrosphere is.

Definition

Simply put, these are all kinds of sources of precious liquid. This includes seas, oceans, rivers, glaciers, underground rivers and more. Part of the hydrosphere is water in the atmosphere and in all living organisms. But the largest share is the salt water of the oceans.

If we consider from a scientific point of view what the hydrosphere is, then this is a complex of sciences, which includes a whole subdivision of research disciplines. Consider what sciences are engaged in the study of the components of the hydrosphere.

Hydrology. The scope of the study is land surface water bodies: rivers, lakes, swamps, canals, ponds, reservoirs.
Oceanology is the study of the oceans.
Glaciology - ground ice.
Meteorology - the fluid in the atmosphere and its effect on weather and climate.
Hydrochemistry - the chemical composition of water.
Hydrogeology deals with groundwater.
Geocryology - solid water: glaciers and eternal snows.
Hydrogeochemistry is a young science that studies the chemical composition of the entire hydrosphere.
Hydrogeophysics is also a new direction, the basis of which is the physical properties of the Earth's water shell.

The composition of the hydrosphere

What does it consist of? The hydrosphere includes all types of moisture on the planet. Its volume is difficult to imagine. Scientists have calculated that it is 1370.3 million km 3. Throughout the history of the planet, the mass of water has never changed.

Interesting fact: every fifth person wants to drink plenty of water. But no matter how much he drinks, he fails to do so.

Consider the composition of the hydrosphere:

World Ocean. It occupies a large part, or rather, almost the entire volume of the water shell. It includes four oceans: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Arctic.
Land water. This includes all sources of precious liquid that can be found on the continents: rivers, lakes, swamps.
Groundwater is a huge supply of moisture located in the lithosphere.
Glaciers and permanent snows, which account for a large part of the water supply.
Water in the atmosphere and in living organisms.

The percentage of the sources of the Earth's hydrosphere is shown in the figure below.

Water is a unique substance. Its molecules have such a strong bond that it is very difficult to separate them. But its even greater uniqueness is that, unlike other important elements, it can exist in natural conditions in three states at once: liquid, solid, gaseous.

The water cycle in nature plays an important function in the distribution of moisture on the planet. The main source of fresh liquid in the atmosphere is the World Ocean. From it, water, under the influence of the sun, evaporates, turns into clouds and moves in the atmosphere, while salt remains. So there is a fresh liquid.

There are two cycles: large and small.

The great water cycle concerns the renewal of the waters of the oceans. And since most of the moisture passes into a gaseous state precisely from its surface, it returns there along with drains, where it enters in the form of precipitation.

If a large cycle covers the renewal of water on the planet as a whole, then a small one applies only to land. The same process is observed there: evaporation, condensation, precipitation in the form of precipitation and runoff into the oceans.

More water evaporates in the ocean than in rivers and lakes. On the contrary, there is a lot of precipitation on the continents, and little over open water expanses.

Cycle speed

The components of the Earth's hydrosphere are updated at different rates. The most rapidly updated water supply in the human body, since it consists of 80% of it. Within a few hours, with plenty of drinks, you can fully restore the balance.

But glaciers and the oceans are updated very slowly. In order for completely new icebergs to appear in the polar latitudes, almost 10 thousand years are needed. One can imagine how long ice has already existed in the Arctic and Antarctica.

Water in the oceans is cleared a little faster - in 2.7 thousand years.

The nutritional power of living organisms

Water is a unique chemical compound of hydrogen and oxygen. It has no smell, taste, color, but easily absorbs them from the environment. Its molecules are difficult to separate, but at the same time they contain ions of chlorine, sulfur, carbon, sodium.

Life originated in water, and it is contained in all metabolic organisms. There are animals whose bodies are almost liquid. Jellyfish are 99% water, fish are only 75%. There is even more juice in plants: in cucumber - 95%, carrots - 90%, apples - 85%, potatoes - 80%.

Functions of the water shell

The Earth's hydrosphere performs several vital functions for the planet:

Accumulating. All of the Sun's energy goes into the ocean first. There it is stored and distributed throughout the planet. This process ensures the preservation of the average positive temperature.
Oxygen production. Most of this substance is produced by phytoplankton located in the oceans.
Distribution of fresh water through circulation.
Provides resources. The world's oceans contain significant food reserves, as well as other useful extractable resources.
Recreational potential for a person who uses the ocean for their own purposes: for energy, cleaning, cooling, entertainment.

Hydrosphere and man

Depending on how water is used, two separate categories can be distinguished:

Water consumers. This includes those branches of human activity that use a clear liquid to achieve their goals, but do not return it. There are a lot of such activities: non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy, agriculture, chemical, light industry and others.
Water users. These are industries that use water in their activities, but always return it. This includes sea and river transport, fisheries, services for the delivery of water to the population, water utilities.

Interesting fact: for a city with a population of 1 million people, 300 thousand m 3 of clean drinking water per day is needed. At the same time, the liquid returns to the ocean polluted, unsuitable for living organisms, and the ocean has to clean it up on its own.

Classification by nature of use

For a person, water has a different meaning. We eat, wash and clean in it. Therefore, scientists have proposed the following gradation:

Drinking water - pure water without toxic and chemical substances, suitable for consumption in its raw form.
Mineral water - water enriched with mineral components, which is extracted from the bowels of the earth. Used for medicinal purposes.
Industrial water - used in production, goes through one or two stages of purification.
Thermal energy water - the intake is taken from thermal springs.

technical water

Water for technical needs can be completely different. In agriculture, it is used for irrigation, and it does not need to be cleaned. For energy purposes, for space heating, water is converted into a gaseous state. Hospitals, baths, laundries receive household liquid with less purification.

Water used in industry is often contaminated. But more than half of the consumed volume is used for cooling the units. In this case, it is not contaminated and can be reused.

Problems of the hydrosphere

The oceans are an environment that is capable of self-purification. But there are 7 billion people on Earth, and the rate of pollution is much greater than the rate of renewal. This can lead to irreparable consequences. Consider the main sources of pollution of the hydrosphere:

Industrial, agricultural, household drains.
Household waste of coastal zones.
Pollution by oil and oil products.
Entry into the oceans of heavy metals.
Acid rain, the result of which is the destruction of the areola of living beings.
Transport.

Pollution of the seas and oceans

Man and the hydrosphere must exist in the world. After all, from how we treat the source of our life, so nature will repay us. Already, the surface of the oceans and seas is very heavily polluted with oil products and waste. More than 20% of the water surface is covered with an impermeable film of oil, through which oxygen and steam cannot be exchanged. This leads to the death of ecosystems.

Due to significant pollution, natural resources are depleted. A good example is the Aral Sea. Since 1984, no fish have been found here.

Since 1943, the hydrosphere has been contaminated with dangerous radioactive substances. They were buried on the seabed. This has been prohibited since 1993. But for 50 years of detrimental impact, a person could cause irreparable harm to the ocean.

Danger from rivers and lakes

Land pollution is even more dangerous for humans. After all, it is from there that fresh water is taken for household needs and for consumption. Today in Russia, most of the rivers are classified as heavily polluted. Here is a rating of the most dangerous reservoirs in Russia:

Volga;
Yenisei;
Irtysh;
Kama;
Iset;
Lena;
Pechora;
Tom.

Solving environmental problems

Mankind must understand that the more attention we pay to the preservation of purity in nature, the greater the chance for our descendants to live in a favorable environment. In the pursuit of money and profit, many businesses neglect the basic cleaning rules. The main task is the construction of cleaning filters in coastal areas, in places of the greatest accumulation of waste and the provision of enterprises with modern technologies aimed at environmental safety.

Afterword

From this article, we learned what the hydrosphere is, what are its main components, and what problems the World Ocean faces. The task of each of us is to understand that the world was created not by man, but by nature, and we, mercilessly exploit it, without realizing the consequences.

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Lecture 3

The hydrosphere is the water shell of the earth.

Pollution of the hydrosphere.

Sources of pollution of the hydrosphere.

Water quality control methods.

Water protection measures.

Waste water treatment methods.

The hydrosphere is the water shell of the Earth.

Hydrosphere- the water shell of the Earth, including all waters in liquid, solid and gaseous states.

The hydrosphere includes the waters of the oceans, seas, groundwater and land surface waters. Some water is found in the atmosphere and in living organisms.

Water occupies the predominant part of the Earth's biosphere (71% of the total area of the earth's surface).

The hydrosphere already 4 billion years ago was represented by the following three components: terrestrial (World Ocean, river, soil, lake waters, glaciers), underground (waters of the lithosphere), air (vaporous water of the atmosphere). The hydrosphere includes the following types of water (in brackets, the share of the total volume of water in the hydrosphere,%, according to M.I. Lvovich, 1974):

World Ocean (94.0);

groundwater (4.3);

glaciers (1.7);

land waters (lakes, river waters, soil moisture) (0.03);

atmospheric vapors (0.001).

Water is a part of living matter as an essential component (70–99%). In fact, living matter is an aqueous solution of "living" molecules. It is water that keeps them alive. Terrestrial life originated in the aquatic environment, and therefore it can be considered a derivative of water.

Fundamental properties of water:

1. First property hydrosphere - unity and ubiquity"(in the words of V. I. Vernadsky) natural waters. All waters are interconnected and represent a single whole. This unity of natural waters is determined by:

a) easy transition of water from one phase state to another. Three states are known within the limits of terrestrial temperatures: liquid, solid, and vapor. The plasma state of water exists at high temperatures and pressures in the deep parts of the bowels;

b) the constant presence of gas components in the water. Natural water is an aqueous solution (gas, suspended solids, minerals).

2. Second property hydrosphere is determined special structure of the water molecule. The structure and properties of water provide the most favorable conditions for the development of life on Earth. We know from physics that all bodies expand when heated and contract when cooled. Water behaves differently. If it contracted when it turned into ice (cooling), the ice would be heavier than water and sink to the bottom of rivers and lakes. The rivers would be frozen to the bottom, and life in these reservoirs would be impossible. Ice is an insulator that keeps the water below the ice from freezing, which protects all underwater life. If it were not for this property, then the Earth would turn into an ice-bound planet.

The special structure of the water molecule provides manifold structure it when changing external factors (temperature, pressure, chemical composition). In winter, we had to observe the diversity and beauty of ice patterns on the windows, snowflakes, frost on the trees. Just as no two drops of water are exactly alike, so no two types of water are identical in structure.

3. Third property hydrosphere is expressed in its geologically eternal mobility. The movement of water is very diverse and manifests itself in numerous cycles. The main movement of water is the geological cycle of matter. Every second, under the influence of solar heat, millions of cubic meters of water rise up and form clouds. The wind sets the clouds in motion. Under the right conditions, moisture falls in the form of rain or snow. Raindrops have a favorable size for everything earthly and fall quietly, softly. Are all life-friendly coincidences accidental? Thus, water is involved in a kind of cycles of matter and energy. This system was established on Earth with the advent of free water and continues to this day.

Why is there movement? Movement can occur under the action of: a) gravity; b) solar (thermal) energy; c) molecular motion with a change in the phase state.

4. Fourth property hydrosphere is determined by high chemical activity of water. Under the conditions of the earth's crust, there are no natural bodies that would not dissolve to some extent in natural waters. Water in the biosphere acts as a universal solvent, because, interacting with all substances, as a rule, it does not enter into chemical reactions with them. This ensures the exchange of substances between land and ocean, organisms and the environment.

The most important abiotic factors of the aquatic environment are the following:

1. Density and viscosity.

The density of water is 800 times and the viscosity is about 55 times that of air.

2. Heat capacity.

Water has a high heat capacity, so the ocean is the main receiver and accumulator of solar energy.

3. Mobility.

The constant movement of water masses contributes to maintaining the relative homogeneity of physical and chemical properties.

4. Temperature stratification.

A change in water temperature is observed along the depth of the water body.

5. Periodic (annual, daily, seasonal) temperature changes

The lowest water temperature is considered to be - 2 ° C, the highest + 35-37 ° C. The dynamics of fluctuations in water temperature is less than that of air.

6. Transparency and turbidity of water.

Determines the light regime under the water surface. The photosynthesis of green bacteria, phytoplankton, higher plants, and, consequently, the accumulation of organic matter, depends on transparency (and its opposite characteristic - turbidity).

Turbidity and transparency depend on the content of substances suspended in water, including those entering water bodies along with industrial discharges. In this regard, the transparency and content of suspended solids are the most important characteristics of natural and waste waters that are subject to control at an industrial enterprise.

7. Salinity of water.

According to the degree of salinity, all water bodies are conventionally divided into

fresh with salinity less than 0.50/00,

brackish water - salinity ranges from 0.5 - 16 0 / 00,

salty - more than 16 0 / 00.

The salinity of oceanic water bodies is 32 - 38 0 / 00,

Salt lakes have the highest salt content, where the concentration of electrolytes reaches 370 0/00.

Main difference sea water from river salt is that the vast majority of sea salt is chlorides, and in river water dominated carbonic salts. A person uses only fresh water for life support. Of the total water resources on earth, share of fresh water account for no more than 3%.

8. Dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide.

The excess consumption of oxygen for the respiration of living organisms and for the oxidation of organic and mineral substances entering the water with industrial discharges leads to the depletion of the living population up to the impossibility of living in such water for aerobic organisms.

9. Hydrogen ion concentration (pH).

All hydrobionts have adapted to a certain pH level: some prefer an acidic environment, others prefer an alkaline environment, and still others prefer a neutral one. Changes in these characteristics can lead to the death of hydrobionts.