CHAPTER 3 - THE PHYSICAL WORLD (PART 2) washed away by moving water or blown away

by wind, or as dissolved minerals are taken

away by subsurface flows of water. On the
The effects of weathering and erosion other hand, erosion may also take place as a
collective process, such as a landslide on steep
Impacts from meteorites, earthquakes, volcanic terrain. The term "peneplain" refers to an area
eruptions, and glacial are all examples of of the terrain that has become generally
immense geological forces that have the featureless and uniform as a result of
potential to eradicate natural as well as artificial weathering and erosion processes that take
ecosystems. However, geological dynamics with place over extraordinarily long periods of time.
less force are also significant, despite the fact
that they exert their influences more
pervasively because they operate relatively
Even geological phenomena as huge as
slowly over longer time scales rather than as
mountains progressively erode away, and their
extremely destructive events. These geological
enormous masses eventually get deposited in
dynamics are important because they exert
lower places. This process occurs even though
their influences more pervasively.
mountains are gigantic geological features. For
instance, the granitic basement rocks of ancient
mountains that were progressively worn away
The term "weathering" refers to the many by the processes of water, wind, and glaciers to
physical and chemical processes that are used form the Precambrian Shield that covers such a
by the elements of the environment to break large portion of Canada. The Precambrian Shield
down rocks and minerals. Rain, wind, and was formed in these areas of Canada. The
fluctuating temperatures are examples of eroded vestiges of a once-great mountain range
abiotic, or non-living, factors that contribute to may also be discovered in the considerably less
weathering (especially freeze-thaw cycles). old hills of the Appalachians of eastern North
Biological forces include the capabilities that are America. These hills can be seen extending into
exerted by plant roots, such as the ability to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and
fracture rock. The fracture of rocks and the Newfoundland. The Rocky Mountains are the
solubilization (chemical breakdown) of minerals most recent mountain range to have formed in
by acidic rains and the corrosive excretions of North America. They stretch from the western
plant roots and microorganisms are two of the United States into Alberta, British Columbia, the
processes that contribute to the progression of Yukon, and the western Northwest Territories.
weathering. Since the Rockies have not yet been significantly
eroded by the unstoppable and mass-wasting
processes of erosion, they still contain a great
The process of rocks and soil being removed number of tall and pointy peaks.
from their original locations by natural forces
such as gravity, moving water, ice, and wind is
referred to as erosion. Erosion is a geological The rates of natural weathering and erosion are
process that takes place everywhere, but at affected by a wide variety of factors, some of
different speeds depending on the which are the rock's hardness, the degree of soil
environment. In most cases, it is a long process and sediment consolidation, the amount of
that takes place when particles are gradually vegetation cover, the rate of water flow, the
slope of the land, the speed and direction of the can be caused to uplift, sometimes raising them
wind, the frequency of storms and other types to great altitude and contributing to the
of disturbances, and the speed and direction of formation of new mountain ranges underwater
the wind. The acts of humans may have a or on the continents. This can take place as a
significant impact on a number of these aspects. result of enormously slow and powerful
For instance, when the local vegetation is collisions of crustal plates. Geological uplift is
trampled upon or otherwise disrupted, the the process through which sedimentary rocks
moderating impact that it normally has on and fossils from the ocean floor are transported
erosion is diminished or even removed. In point to the highest peaks of the world's mountains.
of fact, human activities connected to farming, The uplift and formation of mountains are
logging, and the construction of roads have essential steps in the geological recycling of part
significantly contributed to a rise in the rates of of the continental mass that had been lost
erosion in almost all areas of the globe. The downslope as a result of erosion over a period
growing loss of soil has, in many instances, had of millions of years. This mass had been eroded
major repercussions for both the productive away.
capacity of agricultural land and the natural
biodiversity of the surrounding area
The Water-Covered Space

The area of Earth that is composed of water

Naturally, the rocks, sand, clays, and other
(H2O), known as the hydrosphere, includes not
debris that are carried away by erosion from
only the seas but also the atmosphere, the land
mountains and other uplands have to end up
surface, and the subsurface. The hydrologic
someplace. These materials are transported to
cycle, often known as the water cycle, is a term
lower elevations, and ultimately a significant
that describes the ways in which water moves
portion of the mass is deposited in the seas,
(fluxes) between all of these different reservoirs
where they participate in a process known as
(compartments). The hydrologic cycle is active
sedimentation, which causes them to sink to
on all sizes, ranging from the neighborhood to
the ocean floor. The mass of sedimented
the whole planet. Figure 3.2 is an illustration
material builds up over extremely long periods
that shows the primary components that make
of time (tens or even millions of years), to the
up the hydrologic cycle on a global scale.
point that intense pressure is exerted on lower
levels of the sediment. This causes the sediment
to become more densely packed and fuse into
sedimentary rock in a process that is called Figure 3.2. Components of Primary Importance
lithification. Sedimentary rocks include in the Hydrologic Cycle The hydrologic cycle
mudstone, sandstone, shale, and limestone, as incorporates not only the effects of oceans and
well as conglomerates, which are combinations other types of surface water (such lakes and
of the aforementioned rock types (the latter rivers), but also those of groundwater and the
may also contain eroded non-sedimentary moisture in the air (occurring as clouds and
rocks, such as granite and basalt). humidity). The water cycle includes
evaporation, the formation of precipitation
(such as rain and snow), and the movement of
water via a variety of channels, both above and
Eventually, under the influence of tectonic
below ground.
forces, areas of deep-ocean sedimentary rocks
The hydrologic cycle is comprised of the sum The hydrologic cycle is a very complicated
total of all of its components, including the process, but it can be broken down into its four
input and output fluxes that are associated with primary components and analyzed that way
each section of the cycle. The quantity of water
that is present will remain the same if there is a
flow-through equilibrium and the rate of water The oceans constitute the biggest hydrological
entering a compartment is equal to the rate of compartment on the globe, holding about 97.4
water leaving the compartment. Naturally, the percent of the total water supply.
size of the compartment will grow over time if
the amount of input is more than the amount of Surface waters are those that are found on
output, while the size of the compartment will landmasses and make up 2.3% of the total
shrink if the amount of input is lower than the water on Earth. Only 0.002% of that quantity is
amount of output. found in lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, and other
surface bodies of liquid water. The vast majority
of that quantity is found in Greenland and
Antarctica.
At the scale of the whole planet, the primary
components of the hydrologic cycle are in a Only 0.32 percent of the world's water is made
state of equilibrium that will persist over the up of groundwater. Groundwater may be found
long term. On the other hand, this is not always in soil strata that are relatively shallow, making
the case at the local level, particularly when it easy for plants to take it up, or it can drain
seen across shorter periods of time. Over laterally into surface waters such as lakes and
instance, a certain location can experience streams. Either way, plants are able to utilize
flooding or a drought for a short period of time. the groundwater. For these uses, deeper
In addition, there is the possibility that the groundwater is unreachable, and it forms
hydrological conditions of the region may artesian reservoirs in the crevices inside porous
change throughout time. For instance, or cracked bedrock. These aquifers get water
glaciation stores enormous volumes of liquid either by having it infiltrate them via deep
water on land, and excessive usage of drainage from above or by having it be
groundwater may deplete artesian reservoirs. transported underground over great distances
Glaciation also stores water as ice (aquifer). from surrounding upland regions.

Only roughly 0.001 percent of the total amount

of water on Earth is found in the atmosphere. It
The passage of water through the sky, on the
is possible for it to exist in the form of a gas, a
surface, and underground are all components of
vapour (which consists of very small droplets
the global hydrologic cycle. Water is also stored
that are suspended in the air), or a solid (ice
in the world's seas, lakes, glaciers, and
crystals), all of which are very changeable in
groundwater. In the end, rivers like the Niagara
both space and time. In the atmosphere, a
River, which runs north from Lake Erie to Lake
cloud is a dense collection of liquid or solid
Ontario, symbolize a flow of water that had
water, since gaseous water cannot form clouds
been deposited as rain or snow over the terrain
and is hence invisible. It is important to keep in
as a flow to the ocean. The Niagara River travels
mind that the greatest quantity of water that
from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The world
can be stored in a given volume of atmosphere
famous Niagara Falls may be found on the
is strongly dependent on the temperature, with
Niagara River. Freedman, B., as the cited source
warmer air having a far larger capacity for water
storage than cold air does. The word "humidity" earth's seas falls as precipitation somewhere
refers to the actual concentration of water else on the planet. However, part of it is carried
vapor in the air (expressed as a number in across the continents by moving air masses,
grams per cubic meter), while "relative which results in a net import of evaporated
humidity" indicates the real humidity as a water from the seas to the land surfaces.
percentage of the saturation value for a certain Orographic precipitation is the name given to
temperature. the phenomena that occurs when mountainous
regions face an ocean and experience unusually
The Water Cycle or Hydrologic Cycle. This table
high levels of precipitation (In Detail 3.1).
illustrates the amount of water that is
contained inside a variety of different global
compartments and flows. Botkin and Keller are
Surface flow
the providers of the data (2014).
The term "surface flow" refers to the movement
of water via channels such as streams and
Evaporation rivers. Lakes and ponds, on the other hand, are
storage reservoirs that are largely unchanging.
Evaporation is the process by which water
The direction in which surface flows travel is
transforms from a liquid state into a gas state,
determined by the gravitational descents that
or from a solid state straight into a gas state
are linked with height; in other words, water
(evaporation directly from ice or snow is more
flows downwards. In the end, the majority of
properly referred to as sublimation). Oceans
surface flows transport water to the seas, which
provide around 86% of the world's total
helps to maintain a balance between the net
evaporation, with land surfaces accounting for
import of moisture and the amount of moisture
the remaining 14%. Evaporation of water may
lost via evaporation from the oceans.
take place on terrestrial landscapes from bodies
of water with a wet surface, from moist soil and
rocks, and even from plants. The term
Orographic Precipitation Accumulated Along a
"transpiration" refers to the process of water
Transect Running Through Coastal British
evaporating from plants, whereas the term
Columbia
"evapotranspiration" encompasses all of the
many ways that water might evaporate from a The phenomena of orographic precipitation
landscape. may be seen in action in the geographic pattern
of precipitation that occurs around the coast of
British Columbia. When air masses that are
Precipitation saturated with moisture and are carried in the
predominant westerly winds from the Pacific
The process through which water falls to the
Ocean come into contact with the mountains of
ground from the sky, either in the form of rain,
the Coast Range, this phenomenon takes place.
snow, or hail, is referred to as precipitation. In
Because the air masses cool as they climb (by
addition, water that is present in the
0.5 to 0.8 degrees Celsius for every 100 meters
atmosphere but is in the vapour phase may
in height), their capacity to store water is
condense or freeze onto surfaces, resulting in
dramatically reduced as the elevation increases.
either dew or frost. As was said before, the
Because of this, a significant portion of the
majority of the water that evaporates from the
moisture in the atmosphere condenses into
clouds, which subsequently cause snow and rain under about 450,000 km2 of the western
to fall from the sky. United States.

When the air mass gets to the other side of the It cannot be overstated how significant the
mountains and begins to descend, it begins to hydrologic cycle is. Water is essential to the
warm up again, which causes an increase in the functioning of natural ecosystems because it
amount of moisture that it is able to contain. helps creatures meet their metabolic
Because of this, the side of the mountains that requirements, it keeps temperatures down, and
is under the rain shadow receives much less it acts as a universal solvent that enables water-
precipitation. soluble nutrients to be taken by organisms. In
addition, humans need water for agricultural
purposes, industrial purposes, and recreational
Because of this, coastal Vancouver receives far purposes. Regrettably, in many areas both the
more precipitation (approximately 110 water and its biological resources (such as fish)
centimeters per year) than Penticton, which is have been used to an unhealthy degree, and as
located in the interior of the Okanagan Valley a result, the water's quality has deteriorated as
(28 centimeters per year). However, local a result of pollution. This book addresses, in a
orographic effects are also significant in the variety of different chapters, the many ways in
Greater Vancouver area. While annual which water and its supplies might be harmed,
precipitation averages only about 50 as well as the various methods in which these
centimeters in the southern suburbs of Delta, it impacts can be mitigated.
can reach as high as 250 centimeters in North
Vancouver and other locations that are located
closer to the mountains.

A graphical representation of the orographic

precipitation model.

Infiltration of water into the earth is what

happens during the process of groundwater
drainage. It is possible for shallow groundwater
to migrate laterally, and it will ultimately drain
into surface waters. It is also possible for plant
roots to take it in, and then subsequently
release it back into the atmosphere via
transpiration. However, deeper groundwater
cannot be absorbed by plants and cannot be
used to replenish surface waters since it is not
accessible. It collects in subterranean artesian
reservoirs, which may be very sizable if they are
deep enough. The Ogallala Aquifer is the largest
of its kind in North America; it lays dormant