As a hydrosphere, or hydrosphere, it is called the set of waters found on planet Earth. As such, it is a word that is composed of the root hydro-, from the Greek ὑδρο- (hydro-) which means ‘water’, and from the word, also Greek, σφαῖρα (sphaira), which translates as ‘sphere’.
In this sense, the hydrosphere includes, according to Geography, the waters found in oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, lagoons, as well as groundwater and those that are frozen, already in the glaciers, already in the polar ice caps.
The hydrosphere covers three quarters of the earth’s surface, with 97% being salt water (oceans, seas), and the remaining 3% (rivers, lakes, groundwater) is made up of freshwater.
As such, water passes from one state to another, and from one reservoir to another, thanks to the hydrological cycle or water cycle. In this sense, the water cycle energizes the hydrosphere.
The hydrosphere originated as a result of the cooling of the planet’s surface, which led to all the water present in the atmosphere in gaseous form going into a liquid state and giving rise to the oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, lagoons and groundwater.
The hydrosphere is fundamental for the development of life on the planet, climate regulation, and the modeling and transformation of the earth’s crust.
Hydrosphere, lithosphere and atmosphere
Our planet is made up of three layers that surround it externally: the hydrosphere, the lithosphere and the atmosphere.
The hydrosphere comprises all the waters found on the earth’s surface (oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, lagoons and groundwater).
The lithosphere, on the other hand, is the outer layer of the Earth; it is made up of solid materials, and has a thickness that fluctuates between 20 and 70 km in the continental crust, and 10 km in the oceanic crust; approximately 30% of the total surface of the lithosphere is emerged.
The atmosphere is the gas layer that surrounds the previous two; It has an approximate thickness of one thousand kilometers, works as a regulator of the earth’s temperature and protects us from solar radiation; in it the meteorological processes take place and there are gases that are essential for life.
Both the hydrosphere, the lithosphere and the atmosphere are essential for the development of life on the planet.
