Water in and on the Geosphere

Water commonly moves on the geosphere in streams or rivers consisting of channels through which water flows. Rivers collect water from drainage basins or watersheds. To protect water quality in rivers, pollution and pollution-causing agricultural practices in drainage basins must be avoided. 

FIGURE 9.8 Water is generally abundant on and below the surface of the geosphere. Rain falling as part of the hydrologic cycle is spread on a watershed from which it may flow to produce rivers and seep into porous geological formations called aquifers as groundwater. Water is an important constituent of soils. 

Rivers continually erode the geosphere over which they flow and leave deposits of sediments. Over time, a river will erode earth away and create valleys. An undisturbed river continually cuts curving patterns known as meanders in a river valley. The flat area of a valley formed by erosion and sediment deposition in the vaUey and susceptible to periodic flooding is the river s floodplain. 

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