Does LAND USE change the water cycle?

Deforestation

- less interception

- increased discharge

- higher chance of flooding

- new vegetation is shallow and has fewer leaves leading to reduced transpiration and interception

Soil drainage

- removes excess water from the soil profile

- subsurface drainage (pipes that remove excess water from the soil)

- flashier floods

- risk of flooding increased - artificial system moving on the water from the soil much faster than natural

- improves aeration

- easier to grow crops

Water Abstraction

"water is removed from the ground for use by humans"

- empties wells

- sinks the water table

- occurs in areas where demand is higher than the availability

- where water tables are being sunk in coastal areas, saline intrusion can occur (where sea water gets into underground water stores. It therefore cannot be used by humans ad is expensive to de-salinify the water to make it safe.)

	Created by Orlagh Bonser almost 7 years ago

A level Geography (Water & Carbon Cycles) Note on The Water Cycle, created by Orlagh Bonser on 05/02/2018.