An inland sea (also known as an epeiric sea or an epicontinental sea ) is a continental body of water which is very large in area and is either completely surrounded by dry land or connected to an ocean by a river , strait or " arm of the sea ". An inland sea will generally be brackish , with higher salinity than a freshwater lake but usually lower salinity than seawater . As with other seas, inland seas experience tides governed by the orbits of the Moon and Sun.
35-600: The Sundance Sea was an epeiric sea that existed in North America during the mid-to-late Jurassic Period of the Mesozoic Era. It was an arm of what is now the Arctic Ocean , and extended through what is now western Canada into the central western United States. The sea receded when highlands to the west began to rise. The Sundance Sea did not occur at a single time; geological evidence suggests that
70-547: A desert climate often face physical water scarcity. Central Asia , West Asia , and North Africa are examples of arid areas. Economic water scarcity results from a lack of investment in infrastructure or technology to draw water from rivers, aquifers , or other water sources. It also results from weak human capacity to meet water demand. Many people in Sub-Saharan Africa are living with economic water scarcity. An important concern for hydrological ecosystems
105-559: A 15–20 foot (4.5–6 m) long cryptoclidid plesiosaur , went after the easier-to-catch fish. The largest marine reptile in the Sundance Sea was Megalneusaurus , a 25-foot (8 m) long pliosaur similar to Liopleurodon . Its fossils have been found in Alaska and Wyoming, which were both covered by the Sundance Sea when it was alive. During the periods of recession, dinosaurs and other Jurassic terrestrial animals frequented
140-778: A USGS management perspective. Lake Ontario is the only Great Lake connected to the Atlantic Ocean below Niagara Falls . Modern examples might also include the recently (less than 10,000 years ago) reflooded Persian Gulf , and the South China Sea that presently covers the Sunda Shelf . At various times in the geologic past, inland seas covered central areas of continents during periods of high sea level that result in marine transgressions . Inland seas have been greater in extent and more common than at present. Fresh water Fresh water or freshwater
175-529: A collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all". Targets on fresh water conservation are included in SDG 6 (Clean water and sanitation) and SDG 15 (Life on land). For example, Target 6.4 is formulated as "By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce
210-402: A drinking water supply it remains vital to protect due to its ability to carry contaminants and pollutants from the land into lakes and rivers, which constitute a significant percentage of other people's freshwater supply. It is almost ubiquitous underground, residing in the spaces between particles of rock and soil or within crevices and cracks in rock, typically within 100 m (330 ft) of
245-428: A larger salt content. Freshwater habitats can be classified by different factors, including temperature, light penetration, nutrients, and vegetation. There are three basic types of freshwater ecosystems: Lentic (slow moving water, including pools , ponds , and lakes ), lotic (faster moving water, for example streams and rivers ) and wetlands (areas where the soil is saturated or inundated for at least part of
280-469: A shallow body of water whose bottom is within the wave base (e.g., where bottom sediments are no longer stirred by the wave above), as one with limited connection to an ocean, and as simply shallow. An inland sea is only an epeiric sea when a continental interior is flooded by marine transgression due to sea level rise or epeirogenic movement . An epicontinental sea is synonymous with an epeiric sea. The term "epicontinental sea" may also refer to
315-519: A single factor. Groundwater showed greater resilience to climate change than expected, and areas with an increasing threshold between 0.34 and 0.39 aridity index exhibited significant sensitivity to climate change. Land-use could affect infiltration and runoff processes. The years of most recharge coincided with the most precipitation anomalies, such as during El Niño and La Niña events. Three precipitation-recharge sensitivities were distinguished: in super arid areas with more than 0.67 aridity index, there
350-693: Is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids . The term excludes seawater and brackish water , but it does include non-salty mineral-rich waters , such as chalybeate springs. Fresh water may encompass frozen and meltwater in ice sheets , ice caps , glaciers , snowfields and icebergs , natural precipitations such as rainfall , snowfall , hail / sleet and graupel , and surface runoffs that form inland bodies of water such as wetlands , ponds , lakes , rivers , streams , as well as groundwater contained in aquifers , subterranean rivers and lakes . Water
385-449: Is consumed through human activities than is naturally restored, this may result in reduced fresh water availability (or water scarcity ) from surface and underground sources and can cause serious damage to surrounding and associated environments. Water pollution also reduces the availability of fresh water. Where available water resources are scarce, humans have developed technologies like desalination and wastewater recycling to stretch
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#1732765105086420-416: Is critical to the survival of all living organisms . Many organisms can thrive on salt water, but the great majority of vascular plants and most insects , amphibians , reptiles , mammals and birds need fresh water to survive. Fresh water is the water resource that is of the most and immediate use to humans. Fresh water is not always potable water , that is, water safe to drink by humans . Much of
455-452: Is extracted for human consumption. Agriculture uses roughly two thirds of all fresh water extracted from the environment. Fresh water is a renewable and variable, but finite natural resource . Fresh water is replenished through the process of the natural water cycle , in which water from seas, lakes, forests, land, rivers and reservoirs evaporates, forms clouds , and returns inland as precipitation. Locally, however, if more fresh water
490-542: Is merely a very large lake. Rydén, Migula, and Andersson and Deborah Sandler of the Environmental Law Institute add that an inland sea is "more or less" cut off from the ocean. It may be semi-enclosed, or connected to the ocean by a strait or "arm of the sea". An inland sea is distinguishable from a bay in that a bay is directly connected to the ocean. The term "epeiric sea" was coined by Joseph Barrell in 1917. He defined an epeiric sea as
525-483: Is particularly crucial in Africa, where water resources are often scarce and climate change poses significant challenges. Saline water in oceans , seas and saline groundwater make up about 97% of all the water on Earth . Only 2.5–2.75% is fresh water, including 1.75–2% frozen in glaciers , ice and snow, 0.5–0.75% as fresh groundwater. The water table is the level below which all spaces are filled with water, while
560-826: Is securing minimum streamflow , especially preserving and restoring instream water allocations . Fresh water is an important natural resource necessary for the survival of all ecosystems . Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies , with a negative impact on their uses. It is usually a result of human activities. Water bodies include lakes , rivers , oceans , aquifers , reservoirs and groundwater . Water pollution results when contaminants mix with these water bodies. Contaminants can come from one of four main sources. These are sewage discharges, industrial activities, agricultural activities, and urban runoff including stormwater . Water pollution may affect either surface water or groundwater . This form of pollution can lead to many problems. One
595-420: Is the degradation of aquatic ecosystems . Another is spreading water-borne diseases when people use polluted water for drinking or irrigation . Water pollution also reduces the ecosystem services such as drinking water provided by the water resource . Uses of water include agricultural , industrial , household , recreational and environmental activities. The Sustainable Development Goals are
630-537: The Amazon River . The atmosphere contains 0.04% water. In areas with no fresh water on the ground surface, fresh water derived from precipitation may, because of its lower density, overlie saline ground water in lenses or layers. Most of the world's fresh water is frozen in ice sheets . Many areas have very little fresh water, such as deserts . Water is a critical issue for the survival of all living organisms. Some can use salt water but many organisms including
665-663: The Green Sahara periods) and are not appreciably replenished under current climatic conditions - at least compared to drawdown, these aquifers form essentially non-renewable resources comparable to peat or lignite, which are also continuously formed in the current era but orders of magnitude slower than they are mined. Fresh water can be defined as water with less than 500 parts per million (ppm) of dissolved salts . Other sources give higher upper salinity limits for fresh water, e.g. 1,000 ppm or 3,000 ppm. Fresh water habitats are classified as either lentic systems , which are
700-514: 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. Fresh water makes up less than 3% of the world's water resources, and just 1% of that is readily available. About 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica . Just 3% of it
735-582: The Sea was actually a series of five successive marine transgressions —each separated by an erosional hiatus —which advanced and receded from the middle Jurassic onward. The terrestrial sediments of the Morrison Formation —eroded from rising highlands to the west—were deposited on top of the marine Sundance sediments as the sea regressed for the last time late in the Jurassic. The Sundance Sea
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#1732765105086770-494: The area above this level, where spaces in the rock and soil contain both air and water, is known as the unsaturated zone. The water in this unsaturated zone is referred to as soil moisture. Below the water table, the entire region is known as the saturated zone, and the water in this zone is called groundwater. Groundwater plays a crucial role as the primary source of water for various purposes including drinking, washing, farming, and manufacturing, and even when not directly used as
805-421: The available supply further. However, given the high cost (both capital and running costs) and - especially for desalination - energy requirements, those remain mostly niche applications. A non-sustainable alternative is using so-called " fossil water " from underground aquifers . As some of those aquifers formed hundreds of thousands or even millions of years ago when local climates were wetter (e.g. from one of
840-535: The freshwater flow to be measurably contaminated both by insoluble solids but also by the soluble components of those soils. Significant quantities of iron may be transported in this way including the well-documented transfer of iron-rich rainfall falling in Brazil derived from sand-storms in the Sahara in north Africa . In Africa, it was revealed that groundwater controls are complex and do not correspond directly to
875-547: The great majority of higher plants and most mammals must have access to fresh water to live. Some terrestrial mammals, especially desert rodents , appear to survive without drinking, but they do generate water through the metabolism of cereal seeds, and they also have mechanisms to conserve water to the maximum degree. Freshwater ecosystems are a subset of Earth's aquatic ecosystems . They include lakes , ponds , rivers , streams , springs , bogs , and wetlands . They can be contrasted with marine ecosystems , which have
910-413: The others as well. Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity. One is physical. The other is economic water scarcity . Physical water scarcity is where there is not enough water to meet all demands. This includes water needed for ecosystems to function. Regions with
945-421: The sea if windy conditions have lifted drops of seawater into the rain-bearing clouds. This can give rise to elevated concentrations of sodium , chloride , magnesium and sulfate as well as many other compounds in smaller concentrations. In desert areas, or areas with impoverished or dusty soils, rain-bearing winds can pick up sand and dust and this can be deposited elsewhere in precipitation and causing
980-508: The shores, as evidenced by the Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite near Shell, Wyoming . Epeiric Sea What constitutes an "inland sea" is complex and somewhat necessarily vague. The United States Hydrographic Office defined it as "a body of water nearly or completely surrounded by land, especially if very large or composed of salt water". Geologic engineers Heinrich Ries and Thomas L. Watson say an inland sea
1015-420: The stillwaters including ponds , lakes, swamps and mires ; lotic which are running-water systems; or groundwaters which flow in rocks and aquifers . There is, in addition, a zone which bridges between groundwater and lotic systems, which is the hyporheic zone , which underlies many larger rivers and can contain substantially more water than is seen in the open channel. It may also be in direct contact with
1050-666: The surface, and soil moisture, and less than 0.01% of it as surface water in lakes , swamps and rivers . Freshwater lakes contain about 87% of this fresh surface water, including 29% in the African Great Lakes , 22% in Lake Baikal in Russia, 21% in the North American Great Lakes , and 14% in other lakes. Swamps have most of the balance with only a small amount in rivers, most notably
1085-469: The time). Freshwater ecosystems contain 41% of the world's known fish species. The increase in the world population and the increase in per capita water use puts increasing strains on the finite resources availability of clean fresh water. The response by freshwater ecosystems to a changing climate can be described in terms of three interrelated components: water quality, water quantity or volume, and water timing. A change in one often leads to shifts in
Sundance Sea - Misplaced Pages Continue
1120-657: The underlying underground water. The original source of almost all fresh water is precipitation from the atmosphere , in the form of mist , rain and snow . Fresh water falling as mist, rain or snow contains materials dissolved from the atmosphere and material from the sea and land over which the rain bearing clouds have traveled. The precipitation leads eventually to the formation of water bodies that humans can use as sources of freshwater: ponds , lakes , rainfall , rivers , streams , and groundwater contained in underground aquifers . In coastal areas fresh water may contain significant concentrations of salts derived from
1155-465: The waters above a continental shelf. This is a legal, not geological, term. Epeiric, epicontinental, and inland seas occur on a continent, not adjacent to it. The law of the sea does not apply to inland seas. In modern times, continents stand high, eustatic sea levels are low, and there are few inland seas. The Great Lakes , despite being completely fresh water , have been referred to as resembling or having characteristics like inland seas from
1190-461: Was constant recharge with little variation with precipitation; in most sites (arid, semi-arid, humid), annual recharge increased as annual precipitation remained above a certain threshold; and in complex areas down to 0.1 aridity index (focused recharge), there was very inconsistent recharge (low precipitation but high recharge). Understanding these relationships can lead to the development of sustainable strategies for water collection. This understanding
1225-436: Was rich in many types of animals. Gryphaea was extremely common, and shark teeth have been found. In addition to fish , belemnites and to an extent ammonites have been found in sediments from the Sundance Sea. Crinoids and bivalves would have dotted the seafloor. Ophthalmosaurus , a large 20-foot (6 m) long ichthyosaur , swam in the seas using its large, long jaws to catch belemnite 'squid'. Pantosaurus ,
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