With reference to the water on the planet Earth, consider the following statements:1. The amount of water in the rivers and lakes is more than the amount of groundwater.2. The amount of water in polar ice caps and glaciers is more than the amount of groundwater.Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
✓ Correct answer: b) 2 Only
ExplanationReservoir Volume (Million Cubic km) Percentage of the Total Oceans 1,370 97.25 Ice caps and Glaciers 29 2.05 Groundwater 9.5 0.68 Lakes 0.125 0.01 Soil Moisture 0.065 0.005 Atmosphere 0.013 0.001 Streams and Rivers 0.0017 0.0001 Biosphere 0.0006 0.00004 Water makes up about 71% of the Earth’s surface, while the oth- er 29% consists of continents and islands.Oceans and Seas make up 97% of the Earth’s water and only about 2.5% is in the form of freshwater.71 % of earth surface constitutes water & only 29 % constitutes a land area of earth.97 % of water area constitutes Oceans & Seas & 2.5 % as freshwater.Statement 1 is incorrect: Fresh Water distribution is as given below: Ice Caps and Glaciers > Groundwater >Lakes Ice & Snow > Soil Moisture > Atmosphere > Rivers and Streams.Statement 2 is correct: While about 69% of earth’s freshwa- ter is in ice caps and glacier, groundwater has about 30% of earth’s freshwater.Kakes, Rivers and swamps etc make up the remaining 1%.UPSC GS Paper-I PYQs 472 While 75 % of freshwater is in glaciers & ice caps, only 7 % of freshwater is groundwater.
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