Water objects of the world. Use of water bodies

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Accumulations of natural waters 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 planet's hydrosphere consists mainly of them.

Groups

Structure, hydrological features and environmental conditions divide water bodies into three groups: reservoirs, streams 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 progressive, downhill. Reservoirs are located where the earth's surface is lowered and the movement of water is slower than that of drains. These are swamps, ponds, reservoirs, lakes, seas, oceans.

Special water bodies - mountain and surface glaciers, as well as all groundwater (artesian basins, aquifers). Reservoirs and drains can be temporary (drying) and permanent. Most water bodies have a catchment - this is that part of the thickness of soils, rocks and soils that give the water they contain to the ocean, sea, lake orriver. A watershed is defined along the border of adjacent watersheds, 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 the glaciers located here are not taken into account, and this is wrong. It is necessary to consider absolutely the entire list of water bodies that are on the earth's surface of a given territory as a hydrographic network.

Rivers, streams, canals, being part of the hydrographic network, that is, watercourses, are called the channel network. If there are only large watercourses, that is, rivers, 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 defined. By tradition, most often the discontinuous water shell of the globe is understood, which is located within the earth's crust, including its thickness, representing the totality of seas and oceans, groundwater and land water resources: glaciers, snow cover, 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 waters that are between the atmosphere and the lithosphere, and in the first case, all participants are includedglobal circulation: the natural waters of the planet, and underground, the upper part of the earth's crust, and atmospheric moisture, and water found in living organisms. This is closer to the concept of "geosphere", where there is a rather little studied problem of the interpenetration of different geospheres (atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere) - 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 across all types of water bodies. The world ocean and the seas that are connected with it are the main part of the water belonging to the hydrosphere, 96.4 percent of the total. In second place are glaciers and snowfields: here 1.86 percent of all the waters of the planet. The rest of the water bodies got 1.78%, and this is a huge number of rivers, lakes, swamps.

The most valuable waters are fresh, but there are quite a few of them 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 even more so 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 river runoff, which closes the links of the continental and oceanic cycles. The largest river flow has the greatest river in the world - the Amazon, its water flow is 18% of the flow of all earthly 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 content of individual water bodies often changes as water is redistributed. With global warming, the melting of both sheet and mountain glaciers has intensified, permafrost is disappearing, and the level of the World Ocean has risen noticeably. The glaciers of Greenland, Antarctica, the Arctic islands are gradually melting. Water is a natural resource that is able to renew itself because it is constantly supplied with atmospheric precipitation, which flows through catchment basins into lakes and rivers, forms underground reserves, which are the main sources that allow the use of water bodies.

Use

The same water is used, as a rule, many times and by different users. For example, at first it participates in any technological process, after which it enters the wastewater, then another user uses the same water. But despite the fact that water is a source of renewable andreused, the use of water bodies does not occur in sufficient volume, since there is no necessary amount of fresh water on the planet.

Especial shortage of water resources occurs, for example, during a drought or other natural phenomena. Rainfall is declining, and they are the main source of renewal of this natural resource. Also, the discharge of sewage pollutes 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 paramount.

Legal

The world's waters are undoubtedly a useful natural resource of major ecological and economic importance. Unlike any mineral resources, water is absolutely essential for the life of mankind. Therefore, of particular importance is the legal regulation of water ownership, the use of water bodies, their parts, as well as issues of distribution and protection. Therefore, "water" and "water" are legally different concepts.

Water is nothing more than a combination of oxygen and hydrogen that exists in liquid, gaseous and solid states. Water is absolutely all the water that is found in all water bodies, that is, in its natural state both on the surface of the land, and in the bowels, and in any forms of relief of the earth's crust. The mode of use of water bodies is regulated by civil law. There is a special water legislation that regulates the use ofwaters in the natural environment and water bodies - water use. Only the water that is in the atmosphere and falls in the form of precipitation is not isolated and individualized, since it is part of the composition of the soil.

Safety

Safety at water bodies in winter ensures full compliance with the relevant rules. Autumn ice is extremely fragile until stable frosts set in. In the evening and at night, it can withstand some load, and during the day it quickly heats up from melt water, which seeps into the depths, making the ice porous and weak, despite the thickness. During this period, it causes injuries and even deaths.

Reservoirs freeze very unevenly, first off the coast, in shallow water, then in the middle. Lakes, ponds, where the water is stagnant, and especially if streams do not flow into the reservoir, there is no riverbed or underwater springs 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 still fell through the ice, then at a temperature of 24 degrees Celsius, he can stay in the water for up to nine hours without harm to he alth, 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 conduct

1. You can’t go out on the ice at night, as well as in case of poor visibility: in snowfall, fog, rain.
2. You can't beat the ice with your feet, testing it for strength. If at least a little water appears under your feet, you should immediately move back along your trail with sliding steps, distributing the load over a large area (feet shoulder-width apart).
3. Walk on beaten paths.
4. A group of people must cross the body of water, keeping a distance of at least 5 meters.
5. It is necessary to have a twenty-meter strong cord with a blind loop and weight (the weight is needed to throw the failed cord, and the loop so that he can pass it under the armpits).
6. Parents should not allow children to be unsupervised on water bodies: neither fishing nor skating.
7. It is better not to approach bodies of water while intoxicated, because people in this state react inadequately to danger.

Note to anglers

1. It is necessary to know well the reservoir intended for fishing: deep and shallow places in order to maintain safety in water bodies.
2. Distinguish signs of thin ice, know which water bodies are dangerous, take precautions.
3. Determine the route from the shore.
4. Be careful when descending onto the ice: often it is not very tightly connected to the land, there are cracks and air under the ice.
5. You can't go out on dark areas of ice that have warmed up in the sun.
6. Keep a distance of at least five between those walking on the icemeters.
7. A backpack or a box with gear and supplies is better to drag on a rope two to three meters behind.
8. To check each step, the angler must have a pick, which needs to probe the ice not directly in front of him, but from the side.
9. You can't get closer than three meters to other anglers.
10. It is forbidden to approach areas where there are algae or driftwood frozen into the ice.
11. It is not allowed to make holes at the crossings (on the paths), and it is also forbidden to create several holes around you.
12. To rescue, you must have a cord with a load, a long pole or a wide board, something sharp (hook, knife, hook) so that you can catch on the ice.

Water objects can both decorate and enrich human life, and take it away - you need to remember this.