Has Earth's water always been disappearing since day 1?

I just got done reading through this slideshow titled: "7 Lakes and Rivers that are Drying Up".
(Link to Slideshow at end of thread)

It's a travesty that Earth's water supply is diminishing, but are we looking at this all wrong? Maybe the Earth's water supply has been dwindling for centuries, but now that it's getting to its lowest point where it's putting a strain on the human species, we're just now noticing.

There has been many discussions that Mars used to be like Earth and I'm leaning towards this theory. What if there is only a limited amount of water on a planet, then once life emerges, we only have a limited amount of time before it's all gone and our planet dries up and becomes another Mars?

If you look at picture 4 in the slideshow, there's a picture of the Colorado River.
www.mnn.com...
Really look at the picture. I have a difficult time believing that a little river chiseled out all that rock into a deep valley. I have a much easier time believing that the valley was once filled with water, but it is now just a trickle.

It's quite sad really. I think that water is the same as oil, gold, or any other natural resource on Earth. Once it's used up, it's gone and so are we (not to mention the plants and animals). The one thing that makes water different is that we can certainly make more through the diffusion (is this the right word?) of Hydrogen. We really need to start using this method immediately instead of tapping all of the natural water sources.

It's much more realistic to me that the Earth in its infancy was covered with water and no land whatsoever was visible. Then, as life emerged, the water was consumed bit by bit until the water is at the level we see today.

What does everyone else think of this?

So where exactly do you suggest the water goes ?

Does the term "closed system" ring any bells ? No ?

I would suggest that you read the following:

Water Cycle

reply to post by ararisq


I understand the water cycle and how it evaporates and rains.
So, are you saying that the water is just redistributed around the globe?

My theory is just that it's consumed until there's so little left that it's no longer able to cycle.

There is actually more water on Earth than there was on day one. Water never disapears. It's a fact.

Well lets see since humans are composed of 70% water I would say that the 6.75 billion people walking around the planet might have something to do with it. The world population has about doubled over the last 50 years or so, the water has to come from somewhere.

Guyton's Textbook of Medical Physiology states that "the total amount of water in a man of average weight (70 kilograms) is approximately 40 liters, averaging 57 percent of his total body weight. In a newborn infant, this may be as high as 75 percent of the body weight, but it progressively decreases from birth to old age, most of the decrease occurring during the first 10 years of life.

Wiki

40liters x 6.75 billion = 270billion liters of water moving around the face of the planet in the form of people alone, roughly speaking of course.

Making the world believe that there is a shortage of fresh water supply is exactly what those in power want.

How else can they justify charging you 2 bucks for a 20 oz bottled water?

Profiteer off of necessity, thats TPTB's motto isn't it?

reply to post by Afterthought


Water evaporates...it forms clouds...it rains back down.

The water doesnt disappear anywhere, it remains in the atmosphere, oceans, seas, lakes...rivers, clouds, it is just redistributed.

If anything we have more water now than 1m years ago...day 1 would be when the earth formed into a habitable place, that was 4 billion years ago. Since then water has rained down on our planet in the form of comets and other celestial bodies. So from day 1...we have been gaining more water.

Originally posted by Afterthought
reply to post by ararisq

 

I understand the water cycle and how it evaporates and rains.
So, are you saying that the water is just redistributed around the globe?

My theory is just that it's consumed until there's so little left that it's no longer able to cycle.

Consumed does not equal destroyed. Water is water, so unless you separate the molecules back into Hydrogen and Oxygen then it is recycled as water, and whether it is in a state of solid, liquid or gas it is still H2O.

reply to post by Darkmask


I guess my main issue is that I have a hard time believing that a river carved out the Grand Canyon and other deep gorges. I can imagine this great river that filled the chasm instead, then depleted overtime.

So, nobody finds it believable that 300 years from now, the Mariana Trench might be an ocean in itself surrounded by land that used to be covered with water?

Could the Grand Canyon once been like the Mariana Trench and filled with water, or is my imagination working overtime?

Originally posted by Afterthought
reply to post by ararisq

 

I understand the water cycle and how it evaporates and rains.
So, are you saying that the water is just redistributed around the globe?

My theory is just that it's consumed until there's so little left that it's no longer able to cycle.

but we are a water planet. there is more water then there is land by 2/3.

if by water you mean drinking water, and consumed as in us, animals using and wasting it, then perhaps, in a slightly distorted way it could in theory..

the cycle can't be corrupted that easily, the chemical makeup of the planet enforces it.
unless you change that, the chemical makeup, the water will always remain as it's a byproduct

Originally posted by Afterthought
reply to post by Darkmask

 

Could the Grand Canyon once been like the Mariana Trench and filled with water, or is my imagination working overtime?

Yes, as we've seen over time, water shifts positions carving out the land around it, things underwater will soon be dried out chasms of their own while the Grand Canyon could very well become a deep trench.

reply to post by Afterthought


Maybe Nibiru drank up the water of Mars. Or some object on a close pass sucked it away. Anyway, maybe Nibiru will return the water it took from Mars shortly and Mars will turn green again.

On earth water could be like oil, abiotic and regenerating as long as there is a hot core.

Originally posted by SpaDe_
Well lets see since humans are composed of 70% water I would say that the 6.75 billion people walking around the planet might have something to do with it. The world population has about doubled over the last 50 years or so, the water has to come from somewhere.

Guyton's Textbook of Medical Physiology states that "the total amount of water in a man of average weight (70 kilograms) is approximately 40 liters, averaging 57 percent of his total body weight. In a newborn infant, this may be as high as 75 percent of the body weight, but it progressively decreases from birth to old age, most of the decrease occurring during the first 10 years of life.

Wiki

40liters x 6.75 billion = 270billion liters of water moving around the face of the planet in the form of people alone, roughly speaking of course.

edit on 7/29/2011 by SpaDe_ because: add info

What you're saying makes sense. More life on Earth causes more water to have to be used to make up the composition of its body, but what about the dinosaurs and how everything used to be larger? How many liters made up one T-Rex compared to a family of four?

reply to post by Afterthought


It is speculated in this article that water is still stored deep inside our crust, instead of disappearing. I've heard it mentioned on a couple shows that there is many times the water in our oceans still stored inside our crust. I'm thinking of ebbs and tides, depending on the behavior of the core. Anyways, the article is pretty interesting.

Maybe deep drilling/seismic activity has caused more water to drop away from the surface. No clue.. just an idea.

reply to post by Afterthought


There is no statistical evidence to even begin to calculate how many dinosaurs there were, what their body composition was, or any of the technical data to begin to come up with a logical guess even. What I do have is the data that coincides with growing human population vs decreasing physical water. When the people return to the earth so will the water, well most of it.

Thanks for all of your replies and input. I've just been thinking about this phenomenon lately and this slideshow caused me to post this thread.

I've always heard about water wars in the future and can't imagine why if water is a constant on this planet. The only thing that I would imagine would cause a water war would be if the majority of the wet stuff got contaminated by chemicals, oil gushers, etc. and there was so little clean water remaining that we'd have to be warring over it.

Anyways, thanks again for contributing to and trying to clear up this wacky idea of mine!

Originally posted by SpaDe_
reply to post by Afterthought

 

There is no statistical evidence to even begin to calculate how many dinosaurs there were, what their body composition was, or any of the technical data to begin to come up with a logical guess even. What I do have is the data that coincides with growing human population vs decreasing physical water. When the people return to the earth so will the water, well most of it.

Thanks for clarifying that!
I'm with you on your theory and I believe it holds water (pun intended!)

on one hand we have rising sea levels and on the other hand we have droughts and rivers drying up...