Landforms
Introduction
In this week’s assignment we are asked to first describe the hydrologic cycle and apply it to where we live. Second we are asked to choose either a glacial landscape or a desert landscape and describe how the chosen landscape is formed and features that are found in the landscape. Then finally relate the chosen landscape to the hydrologic cycle.
Hydrologic Cycle and Where I Live For this week’s assignment we were given the task to explain in our own words the hydrologic cycle. To start off what is the hydrologic cycle, in the simplest terms the hydrologic cycle is the process for our planet’s water as is move from ocean to atmosphere to the earth and back again in a continuous cycle. The stages of this cycle are Evaporation: …show more content…
First of all what is a desert, it is an arid land with usually sparse vegetation and having a very warm climate receiving less than 10 inches of rainfall annually (Merriam-Webster, 2014). There are a few different reasons why deserts form, one is a result of prevailing global distribution of air pressure and winds causing deserts to form in places such as Africa, Arabia, and Australia (Lutgens, Tarbuck, Tasa, pg.136, 2014). In other parts of the world such as North America, barriers like the Sierra Nevada and Cascades mountains prevent moisture laden clouds from reaching interior regions (Lutgens, Tarbuck, Tasa, pg.138, …show more content…
The first thing most would think of when the word desert is mentioned besides extreme heat is sand, but sand only covers about 20 percent of the earth’s deserts (USGS, 2014). Most of the sand found in deserts is in sand sheets and sand seas (vast regions of moving dunes resembling ocean waves) (USGS, 2014). Nearly 50 percent of desert surfaces have exposed loose gravel consisting predominantly of pebbles with occasional cobbles (USGS, 2014). One feature that most do think of when disusing deserts is plant except maybe cactus. Plant coverage in deserts is commonly spare and the most desert plants are drought or salt-tolerant (USGS, 2014). Lastly deserts are arid but still get rainfall so in many deserts there can be found dry stream channels called arroyos or wadis (USGS,
Introduction
In this week’s assignment we are asked to first describe the hydrologic cycle and apply it to where we live. Second we are asked to choose either a glacial landscape or a desert landscape and describe how the chosen landscape is formed and features that are found in the landscape. Then finally relate the chosen landscape to the hydrologic cycle.
Hydrologic Cycle and Where I Live For this week’s assignment we were given the task to explain in our own words the hydrologic cycle. To start off what is the hydrologic cycle, in the simplest terms the hydrologic cycle is the process for our planet’s water as is move from ocean to atmosphere to the earth and back again in a continuous cycle. The stages of this cycle are Evaporation: …show more content…
First of all what is a desert, it is an arid land with usually sparse vegetation and having a very warm climate receiving less than 10 inches of rainfall annually (Merriam-Webster, 2014). There are a few different reasons why deserts form, one is a result of prevailing global distribution of air pressure and winds causing deserts to form in places such as Africa, Arabia, and Australia (Lutgens, Tarbuck, Tasa, pg.136, 2014). In other parts of the world such as North America, barriers like the Sierra Nevada and Cascades mountains prevent moisture laden clouds from reaching interior regions (Lutgens, Tarbuck, Tasa, pg.138, …show more content…
The first thing most would think of when the word desert is mentioned besides extreme heat is sand, but sand only covers about 20 percent of the earth’s deserts (USGS, 2014). Most of the sand found in deserts is in sand sheets and sand seas (vast regions of moving dunes resembling ocean waves) (USGS, 2014). Nearly 50 percent of desert surfaces have exposed loose gravel consisting predominantly of pebbles with occasional cobbles (USGS, 2014). One feature that most do think of when disusing deserts is plant except maybe cactus. Plant coverage in deserts is commonly spare and the most desert plants are drought or salt-tolerant (USGS, 2014). Lastly deserts are arid but still get rainfall so in many deserts there can be found dry stream channels called arroyos or wadis (USGS,