WWC - Water and the Water Cycle Module Overview

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Water and the Water Cycle

water and the water cyclePlate tectonics is not the only force that helps shape the geography of Earth's crust; most of the surface is far away from plate boundaries, so other forces come into play as the sculptors and destroyers of landforms. This module examines how water, wind, ice, and gravity all play a role in explaining the various landscapes present on Earth.

Essential Questions:

  • How do both surface water and groundwater act as the major agents of physical and chemical weathering?
  • In what ways do the past and present actions of ice, wind, and water affect landform distribution and landscape change?

Key Words:

  1. Chemical Weathering- the decomposition of rocks due to chemical reactions occurring between the minerals in rocks and the environment
  2. Condensation- the conversion of water vapor to a liquid
  3. Deposition- the geological process in which sediments, soil and rocks are added to a landform or land mass
  4. Erosion- the process by which soil and rock particles are worn away and moved elsewhere by gravity, or by a moving transport agent - wind, water or ice
  5. Evaporation- the process by which water changes from a liquid to a gas or vapor
  6. Glacier- a large body of ice moving slowly down a slope or valley or spreading outward on a land surface
  7. Groundwater- water held underground in the soil or in pores and crevices in rock
  8. Humidity- a quantity representing the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere or a gas
  9. Moraine- a mass of rocks and sediment carried down and deposited by a glacier, typically as ridges at its edges or extremity
  10. Physical Weathering- the process that breaks rocks apart without changing their chemical composition
  11. Precipitation- water released from clouds in the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, or hail
  12. Runoff- water, from rain, snowmelt, or other sources, that flows over the land surface
  13. Sinkhole- a cavity in the ground, especially in limestone bedrock, caused by water erosion and providing a route for surface water to disappear underground
  14. Surface Water- the water in the nation's rivers, streams, creeks, lakes, and reservoirs

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