Water Cycle

The Earth's water is always in circulation. It has been recycled for the last 3 billion years. This process is called the water cycle.

The cycle starts when the sun's heat evaporates water from the oceans into the atmosphere to form clouds. When the conditions are just right, the clouds release water as rain or snow. Most of the rain falls in the oceans, but the rest falls onto land. Rivers and streams collect water from the ground and return it to the ocean so the whole cycle can start all over again. The water cycle never ends because the salty ocean water constantly supplies fresh water to the continents
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