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The
Geography of Water
Geography effects where water is found.
In places where water collects important geographic features are
formed. Also, the geography of water has an effect on the environment
and ecosystem.
There are many geographic water features.
Salt water features include: lagoons, gulfs. bays, estuaries, fjords,
harbors, sounds, seas, and straits. Freshwater features include:
coves, creeks, inlets, lagoons, lakes, ponds, reservoirs, rivers,
streams, tributaries, and waterfalls. Can you locate some of these
water features on a map?
Wetlands
Wetlands are low laying geographic features
where shallow expanses of water collect. Swamps, marshes, bogs,
prairie potholes and vernal pools are all wetlands. Wetlands are
important ecosystems that support a great diversity of living things.
Wetlands are an important natural filter where plants trap sediment,
nutrients, and pollutants.
Photos Courtesy of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service
Freshwater wetlands, such as swamps and
marshes, are a natural sponge helping to reduce downstream flooding.
Water stored in the wetland is slowly released downstream following
a flood.
Coastal Marshes
Salt marshes are coastal wetlands that exist
in the inter-tidal zone between the ocean and the land. Salt marshes
are flooded by incoming ocean tides and have an inflow of fresh
water from rivers and surface water. These marshes produce more
plants than tropical rainforests, and they help reduce erosion of
soil on the coastlines. Salt marshes also provide flood control
by storing excess runoff storm water. Water is purified naturally
as it filters through the wetlands before flowing into the ocean.
Rivers
Rivers are geographic features that collect
and transport water from one region to another. Rivers flow from
glaciers and lakes where water is stored and carry the water across
valleys and plains back to the oceans. Rivers shape the land by
cutting through Earth's layers and forming canyons and valleys.
Image
Copyright 2002 by TASA Graphics Arts, Inc.
When too much precipitation falls, rivers
carry the excess water as runoff.
If runoff exceeds the river's ability to carry the water floods
may occur.
There are several major river systems in
the United States. The Mississippi River, the Columbia River, and
the Colorado are three of the most important. Seven states are drained
by the Colorado River. In the upper Colorado basin are Utah, Wyoming,
Colorado, and New Mexico. In the lower Colorado basin are California,
Nevada, and Arizona.
Image Copyright 2002 by TASA Graphics Arts, Inc.
Ponds
Ponds are small bodies of freshwater that
collect in low laying depressions on the land.
Photo Courtesy of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation
Service
Man Made Geography
Some geographic features are man made. Industrial
factories and plants build man made cooling ponds. A cooling pond
is where hot water from factories and power plants is stored until
it is the same temperature as nearby natural bodies of water. Industrial
ponds are also used to hold dirty and polluted water until it is
filtered and clean enough to flow back into a nearby natural body
of water.
Natural and constructed wetlands are now
being used for sewage treatment. Storm management ponds filter runoff
from highways, construction sites, and streets.
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