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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.
The deuterium to hydrogen ratio for ocean water on Earth is known very precisely to be (1.5576 ± 0.0005) × 10 −4. [35] This value represents a mixture of all of the sources that contributed to Earth's reservoirs, and is used to identify the source or sources of Earth's water.
Saltwater accounts for 97.5% of this amount, whereas fresh water accounts for only 2.5%. Of this fresh water, 68.9% is in the form of ice and permanent snow cover in the Arctic, the Antarctic and mountain glaciers; 30.8% is in the form of fresh groundwater; and only 0.3% of the fresh water on Earth is in easily accessible lakes, reservoirs and ...
The findings challenge the existing theory that the planet was completely covered by ocean four billion years ago.
Fresh water is not always potable water, that is, water safe to drink by humans. Much of the earth's fresh water (on the surface and groundwater) is to a substantial degree unsuitable for human consumption without treatment. Fresh water can easily become polluted by human activities or due to naturally occurring processes, such as erosion.
Earth's approximate water volume (the total water supply of the world) is 1.386 billion cubic kilometres (333 million cubic miles). [24] Liquid water is found in bodies of water, such as an ocean, sea, lake, river, stream, canal, pond, or puddle. The majority of water on Earth is seawater. Water is also present in the atmosphere in solid ...
There's a certain charm to small-town America. From scenic places in Maine, Alaska, California, and beyond, we've got the scoop on some of the nation's smallest towns. 22 of the Smallest Towns in ...
A mere 0.014% of all water on Earth is both fresh and easily accessible. [34] Of the remaining water, 97% is saline, and a little less than 3% is difficult to access. The fresh water available to us on the planet is around 1% of the total water on earth. [35] The total amount of easily accessible freshwater on Earth is 14,000 cubic kilometers.