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An Assignment on “Origin of River,

ORIGIN OF RIVER SYSTEMS

The origin of rivers at Earth has a long history. It is related to the appearance and
development of the continents and islands as a result of tectonic-magmatic processes as well
as to the formation of the Earth’s hydrosphere in the process of juvenile water inflow to the
Earth’s surface. A large role in its formation belonged to the processes of complicating global
water exchange and erosion development as well as changing climatic conditions. In the
processes of their development, rivers changed the direction of their currents and had
different water content during the different geological epochs. Their development was
influenced by the repeatedly occurring inland water bodies of lagoon type and inland seas,
level oscillations of the basins as well as land glaciation events, especially significant in the
Northern Hemisphere. The processes of erosion, transport and deposition of sediments
occurring with a different intensity during the geological epochs in the past and at present, as
well as economic activity determined the evolution of rivers and a modern look of the river
network.

Water at the planet Earth (in the oceans, on the continents and in the atmosphere) appeared
during the Archean epoch. According to the most widespread standpoint, the Earth’s
hydrosphere appeared as a result of gravity differentiation and degassing of the mantle
substance. Due to water bonding at the Earth’s surface and its burying in sedimentary
deposits, this process was characterized by a gradual slowing. At the beginning of the
Paleozoic (570 million years BP), the hydrosphere volume comprised more than 90 % of its
current value. Many geological data confirm that 1.5 – 2 billion years BP, the average ocean
depth comprised 2 – 3 km; the present depths were achieved not later than in the Late
Pre-Cambrian (1.6 billions years BP). It is however, not excluded that as early as the end of
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the Cretaceous (100 – 70 million years BP), there was land in place of the present oceanic
basins, or more probably, shallow epicontinental seas.
The formation of land hydrography in the past and, especially, generation and evolution of
the river systems was predominantly determined by the occurrence and development of the
continents as a result of tectonic-magmatic processes. It is related to the formation of the
Earth’s hydrosphere in the process of juvenile water coming to the Earth’s surface as well as
to the development of the processes of water exchange and soil-ground erosion under the
action of incoming solar radiation to the Earth’s surface.

ORIGIN OF GROUNDWATER
Most groundwater originates as meteoric water from precipitation in the form of rain or snow.
If it is not lost by evaporation, transpiration or to stream runoff, water from these sources may
infiltrate into the ground. Initial amounts of water from precipitation onto dry soil are held
very tightly as a film on the surfaces and in the micro pores of soil particles in a belt of soil
mixture. At intermediate levels, films of water cover the solid particles, but air is still present
in the voids of the soil. This region is called unsaturated zone or zone of aeration, and the
water present is vadose water. At lower depths and in presence of adequate amounts of water,
all voids are filled to produce a zone of saturation, the upper level of which is the water table.
Water present in a zone of saturation is called groundwater .

The porosity and structure of the ground determine the type of aquifer and underground
circulation. groundwater may circulate and be stored in the entire geological stratum, this is
the case in porous soils such as sand, sandstone and alluvium. It may circulate and be stored
in fissures or faults in compact rocks that are not themselves permeable, like most of volcanic
and metamorphic rocks. Water trickles through the rocks and circulates because of localized
and dispersed fissures. Compact rocks of large fissures or caverns are typical of limestone.
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On the earth, approximately 3% of the total water is fresh water. Of this groundwater
comprises 95%, surface water 3.5% and soil moisture 1.5%. Out of all the fresh water on the
earth, only 0.36% is readily available to use .

Groundwater is an important source of water supply. 53% of the population of US receives its
water supply from groundwater sources. Groundwater is also a major source of industrial and
agricultural uses.

We are withdrawing water from underground aquifers at a faster rate that it can be
replenished. Although immense, world's aquifers are not bottomless and in many areas water
levels are sinking fast. The water in some aquifers is millennia old and lies beneath what are
now some of the driest regions on Earth. Although people have drown water from from
springs and wells since the earliest civilizations, in the past 50 years multiplying populations
have needed more food and water and the rate of withdrawal has increased drammatically.

In some coastal areas so much fresh water has been withdrawn from aquifers that saltwater
has started to intrude, turning well water brackish and unusable.In some areas the emptying
of aquifers has caused serious subsidence or high decreasing of the water table level.

Groundwater is also affected by water engineering: for decades and centuries, through
improper disposal of wastes to the environment and subsurface areas many groundwater have
become contaminated. Efforts to protect the quality and quantity of groundwater have been
made by cooperation between all government agencies, industrial parties and researchers.

ORIGIN OF OCEAN
Sources of Ocean Water:

Two primary sources:

*Volcanic outgassing: gases released from volcanic vents - remained as water vapour to
create clouds, eventually rain
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*Comets: primarily tiny ice comets (~ meters in diameter) collided with earth.

Volcanic Outgassting:

i .Water vapor and other gases trapped within Earth as it formed,

ii .Volcanic eruptions, which emit water vapor and gas, more plentiful in the geologic past,

iii. Much of this lost to solar wind. Accounts for perhaps 10% of the Earth’s atmosphere and
ocean material.

Cometary Water:

i. Volatiles lost from the Earth and other inner planets combined with debris from formation
of solar system to form comets.

ii. Comets are composed mainly of rock and frozen gases, including water.

iii. Early solar system had many more comets than today.

Three Phase History

1) Initially there was only water vapor in atmosphere – Air and ground surface too hot for
liquid

2) Cooling of atmosphere led to condensation and rain – Ground surface still too hot for
pooling

3) Further cooling of ground surface finally led to the accumulation of liquid water on surface
– Ocean formed by 4 billion years ago

Phase-1

i. About 4.56 billion years ago, Earth had a thin atmosphere of hydrogen and helium when it
first formed, but probably lost this to space fairly quickly.

ii. Earth did not have a thick nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere, nor did it have large amounts of
liquid water on its surface as it does today.
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iii. As Earth differentiated and cooled, gases and water vapor were released from the interior
of the solid Earth by the process called outgassing and began to form an atmosphere. The
early atmosphere was largely water vapor, nitrogen, methane, ammonia, and carbon dioxide,
with very little free oxygen.

iv. Some earth scientists have suggested that substantial amounts of water vapor may also
have been brought to Earth by comets entering the atmosphere.

v. At that time, atmosphere and ground surface were too hot for water vapour to condense.

Phase-2

i. As Earth cooled, some of the water vapor in the atmosphere began to condense and rain out
onto the surface.

ii. But the surface was still too hot for liquid water to condense, so an intense shroud of
clouds formed that completely blocked out the sunlight down to the surface.

iii. Most likely, these conditions led to an intense rain that lasted for 25 million years.
Simulations suggest that the hot surface would evaporate the rain as soon as it fell,
maintaining the cloud shroud around Earth and cycling rainfall down to the surface.

iv. As a result, there existed a phenomenally efficient and active convection system that drew
heat out of Earth and sent it out toward space through that evaporation-and-rainfall cycle.

v. The 25 million years of rain cooled the surface of Earth enough to form the crust it has
today.

Phase-3

i. Through gradual cooling of the surface of Earth, liquid water began to accumulate.

ii. The surface cooled down enough to form pools, then bigger pools, and then lakes and
bodies of water in low spots on Earth.

iii. This began a process of dissolution of minerals in which the water started to dissolve
some of the minerals on the surface of Earth.
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iv. In addition, this process began the rock weathering cycle, which broke down the minerals
so that the water started to gain some salinity.

v. Earth's oceans were probably formed by about 4 billion years ago. We know this because
rocks of that age have been found which resemble rocks formed in oceanic environments
today.
Thus the ocean are formed.

Referance:

V.I. Babkin ,Doctor of Geographical Science, State Hydrological Institute, St. Petersburg,
Russia.
www.lenntech.com
Introduction to Oceanography.by Paul.

THE END