Final answer:
The water cycle involves several stages including evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, surface runoff, and subsurface flow. Water moves from the land and oceans into the atmosphere, where it condenses and falls back to Earth as rain or snow. Some of the precipitation infiltrates into the soil as groundwater, while the rest becomes surface runoff and flows into streams and rivers.
Step-by-step explanation:
The water cycle is a continuous process involving the movement of water on, above, and below the Earth's surface. It consists of several stages including evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, surface runoff, and subsurface flow.
- Evaporation/Sublimation: Water from the land and oceans enters the atmosphere, either by evaporating from liquid water or sublimating from ice.
- Condensation/Precipitation: Water vapor in the atmosphere condenses into clouds and falls back to the Earth's surface as rain or snow.
- Subsurface Water Flow: Some of the precipitation infiltrates into the soil and flows as groundwater, which can be stored underground.
- Surface Runoff/Snowmelt: Excess precipitation that cannot infiltrate the soil becomes surface runoff, flowing over the land's surface and eventually reaching streams and rivers.
- Streamflow: The flow of water in streams and rivers, which carries water to larger bodies of water such as lakes and oceans.