The Water Cycle: A Visual Explainer
A five-stage flowchart tracing how solar energy and gravity drive water's continuous journey — evaporation and transpiration, condensation, precipitation, infiltration/runoff — back to the oceans.
📌 Revision Pointers
Evaporation + Transpiration = Evapotranspiration, the chief route returning water vapour to the atmosphere.
Condensation forms clouds; Precipitation (rain, snow, sleet or hail) returns water to the land.
Infiltration stores groundwater in aquifers while surface Runoff and river/groundwater discharge complete Collection back into the oceans.
Water endlessly cycles between ocean, atmosphere and land, powered by solar energy and gravity.
💭 Conclusion
A high-frequency Prelims diagram topic — tests the evaporation/transpiration, condensation/precipitation and infiltration/runoff distinctions.