‘Terrarium: It is an artificial enclosure keeping small house plants. Fill one-fourth of a jar with soil and press it well. Put a thin layer of hum on top of it. Plant largest plants first and then arrange the smaller ones around them. Spray the arrangement with water and close the back in the form of drops of water. 1, what images come to your ‘erfalls, the pitter patter . Children love to float jon the puddles vanish. When you think of wate mind? You think of rivers, the wat of raindrops, water in your taps.- paper boats in rain puddles. By no ‘Where does the water go? The sun’s heat causes evaporation of water into vapour. When the water vapour cools down, it condenses and forms clouds. From there it may fall on the land or sea in the form of rain, snow or sle The process by which water continually changes its form and circulates between oceans, atmosphere and land is known as the water cycle (Fig 5.1). Our earth is like a terrarium. The same water i ae that existed centuries ago still exists today. The Precipitation d water used to irrigate a a. mh field in Haryana may Ona have flowed down the a Amazon River a hundred years ago. The major sources of fresh water are the rivers, ponds, ee springs and Evaporation glaciers. The ocean bodies and the seas contain salty water. The water of the oceans is salty or saline as it contains large Fig. 5.1: Water Cycle7 DIES Tce Distripution or WATER Bo the earth surface te Pas We all know that three-fourth -. water than land on Salinity is the covered by water, I there 1s more water Alen Tone of amount of salt in this earth, why do so many countries face whe Sy? eres ereennt 1n i gall {he water on earth available to us ng Is all the we water in percentage. Oe ee ae sable gives the distribution of ‘The average rat of the oceans is 3! Water parts per thousand, Oceans : 97.3 Salin Ice-caps 02.0 Ground water 0.68 Freshwater lakes : 0.009 Fresh Water ry Inland seas and : i068 BLD. Do you know? salt lakes ; . - ' 0.0019 Atmosphere . Dead sea in Israel has Rivers 9.0001 salinity of 340 grams per litre of water. {00.00 ‘Swimmers can float — in it because the ies eee contend Water distribution can be demonstrated by a simple mapeae domes. activity (see activity box). Take 2 litres of water. Let it represent the total water on the surface of the earth. Measure out 12 spoons of water from this vessel into another bowl. The water that is left behind in the vessel represents the salty water found in oceans-and seas. This water is obviously not fit for consuming. It is saline (contains salts). The 12 spoons of water that was taken in a bowl is the total amount of fresh water on earth. The figure shows us the distribution of this fresh water. See for yourself how much water can actually be used by you. Water is absolutely essential for survival. Water alone can quench our thirst when we are thirsty. Now don’t you think we are wasting a precious resource when we use water carelessly? 32 Our EnvigowmenrDams Have Cut Rivers Off From Their Flood Plains: W Ganga amon; Many major rivers in coy danger of drying out * Why is water important for us? * Suggest some ways in which water can be conserved (a) in your home ©) in your school Ocean CircuLation There is something magical about walking bare feet on the seashore. The wet sand on the beach, the cool breeze, the seabirds, the smell of the salt in the air and music of the waves; everything is so fascinating. | ¢tlebrated as World ‘i ‘Water when the Unlike the calm waters of ponds and lakes, ocean water | Water Day when keeps moving continuously. It is never still. The | water te seaineed in movements that oceur in oceans can be broadly | afferent ways, categorised as: waves, tides and currents, o> RSS a nae Fig. 5.3: Pacific Ocean Warer 33Waves When you are playing throw ball on the beach and the ball falls into the water, what happens? It is fun to watch how the ball gets washed back to the shore by the waves. When the water on the falls alternately, they are , called waves. During a storm, the winds blowing at very high speed form huge waves. These may cause tremendous destruction. An earthquake, a volcanic eruption or underwater landslides can shift large amounts of ocean water. As a result a huge tidal wave called tsunami, that may be as high as 15m., is formed. The largest tsunami ever measured was 150m. high. These waves travel at a speed of more than 700 km. per hour. The tsunami of 2004 caused wide spread damage in the coastal areas of India. The Indira point in the Andaman and Nicobar islands got submerged after the tsunami. TSUNAMI ~ THE EARTH'S PANDEMONIUM, Tsunami or the harbour wave struck havoc in the Indian Ocean on the 26 December 2004. The wave was the result of the earthquake that had its epicenter close to the western boundary of Sumatra. The magnitude of the earthquake was 9.0 on the Richter scale. As the Indian plate went under the Burma plate, there was a sudden movement of the sea floor, causing the earthquake. The ocean floor was displaced by about 10 ~ 20m and tilted in a downwardly direction. A huge mass of ocean water flowed to fill in the gap that was being created by the displacement. \This marked the withdrawal of the water mass from the coastlines of the landmasses in the south and southeast Asia. After thrusting of the Indian plate below the Burma plate, the water mass rushed back towards the coastline.. Tsunami travelled at a speed of about 800km., per hour, comparable to speed of commercial aircraft and completely washed away 34 Our Environmentsome of the islands in the Indian ocean. The Indira point in the Andaman and Nicobar islands that marked the southernmost point of India got completely submerged, As the wave moved from earthquake epicenter from Sumatra towards the Andaman islands and Sri Lanka the wave length decreased with decreasing depth of water. The travel speed also declined from 700-900km, per hour to less than 70km. per hour. fsunami waves travelled upto a depth of 3 km, from the coast killing more than 10,000 people and affected more than lakh of houses. In India, the worst affected were the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. While the earthquake cannot be predicted in advance, it is possible to give a three-hour notice of a potential tsunami. Such early warning systems are in place across the Pacific ocean, but not in the Indian Ocean. Tsunamis are rare in the Indian Ocean as the seismic activity is less as compared to the Pacific. Destruction caused by tsunami on Tamil Nadu Coast ‘The tsunami that ravaged the South and South east Asian coasts in December 2004, is the most devastating tsunami in the last several hundred years. The large damage caused to life and property was primarily a result of lack of monitoring, the early warning systems and knowledge among the coast dwellers of Indian ocean. The first indication that tsunami is approaching is the rapid withdrawal of water from the coastal region, followed by destructive wave. When this happened on the coast, instead of people going to high ground, they started assembling at the coast to view the miracle. As a consequence there was a large casualty of curious onlookers when the gigantic wave (tsunami) struck. Tides The rhythmic rise and fall of ocean water twice in a day is called a tide. It is high tide when water covers much of the shore by rising to its highest level. It is low tide when water falls to its lowest level and recedes from the shore. Water 35x gravitational i strene fia and the ince surface Causes the of the earth closer os. Toon gets pulled under the fence of the moon's | force and causes high uring the full moon and new on days, the sun, the moon and ite rth are in the same line and ine tides are highest. These tides are called spring tides. But when moon is in its first and last Fateh the ocean waters get drawn in diagonally opposite directions by the gravitational pull of sun and moon resulting in low tides. These tides are called neap tides (Fig. 5.5). High tides help in navigation. They raise the water level close to the shores. This helps the ships to a : arrive at the harbour more easily. Be a The high tides also help in fishing. Many more fish come closer to the shore during the high tide. This enables fishermen to get a plentiful catch. The rise and fall of water due to tides is being used to generate electricity in f some places. Fy ey ail three fotiscues Ocean CuRRENTS bucket with tap Ocean currents are streams of water flowing constantly water. Heat the water —_ on the ocean surface in definite directions. The ocean by putting an currents may be warm or cold (Fig. 5.6). Generally, Be cre pat ee the warm ocean currents originate near the equator Pee other side z and move towards the poles. The cold currents carry tntoduce an ice tray Water from polar or higher latitudes to tropical or lower just removed from the latitudes. The Labrador Ocean current is cold current freezer. Add a drop of while the Gulf Stream is a warm current. The ocean red ink to observe the current influence the temperature conditions of the path of current by the — area. Warm currents bring about w: te | process of convection. _ ver Jand surface. The are: pee ental as where the warm and cold currents meet provide the best fishing grounds of the 36 Our Environment