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The hydrosphere (from Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdōr) 'water' and σφαῖρα (sphaîra) 'sphere') [1] [2] is the combined mass of water found on, under, and above the surface of a planet, minor planet, or natural satellite. Although Earth's hydrosphere has been around for about 4 billion years, [3] [4] it continues to
The hydrosphere refers to all water on, under, and above the surface of the Earth. It includes the gaseous , liquid , and solid forms of water. Hydrospheric processes which operate across mountain belts include ocean circulation , groundwater flow , evaporation , and condensation .
The most abundant silicate minerals on the Earth's surface include quartz, the feldspars, amphibole, mica, pyroxene, and olivine. [25] Common carbonate minerals include calcite (found in limestone), aragonite, and dolomite. [26] Elevation histogram of the surface of the Earth—approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered with water.
In 2019, 39 million km 2 (15 million sq mi) of Earth's land surface consisted of forest and woodlands, 12 million km 2 (4.6 million sq mi) was shrub and grassland, 40 million km 2 (15 million sq mi) were used for animal feed production and grazing, and 11 million km 2 (4.2 million sq mi) were cultivated as croplands. [270]
The five components of the climate system all interact. They are the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere. [1]: 1451 Earth's climate system is a complex system with five interacting components: the atmosphere (air), the hydrosphere (water), the cryosphere (ice and permafrost), the lithosphere (earth's upper rocky layer) and the biosphere (living things).
Currently, cold surface bodies of liquid are found on two worlds in the Solar System, Earth and Saturn's moon Titan. [1] Earth is the only planet with liquid water on its surface. The other "oceans" are found under thick covers of surface ice. If both liquid and frozen water are counted, Earth ranks fifth in volume of its oceans. [2]
Most water in Earth's atmosphere and crust comes from saline seawater, while fresh water accounts for nearly 1% of the total. The vast bulk of the water on Earth is saline or salt water, with an average salinity of 35‰ (or 3.5%, roughly equivalent to 34 grams of salts in 1 kg of seawater), though this varies slightly according to the amount of runoff received from surrounding land.
By definition (assuming that the entire surface can be classified as either "land" or "ocean"), the two hemispheres do not overlap. Determinations of the hemispheres vary slightly. One determination places the centre of the land hemisphere at 47°13′N 1°32′W / 47.217°N 1.533°W / 47.217; -1.533 (in the city of Nantes , France