Water cycle
The water cycle is a biogeochemical cycle that involves the continuous change in form of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth across different reservoirs.
At a glance
Key signals
25% cross fields · reaches 4 more
- Earth & Space Sciences
- Meteorology
- Hydrology
- Explanation
- Examples
- Misconception
- Sourced relations 7
- Attribution
Dependencies
What this concept builds on and what it makes possible — derived from the atlas’s dependency, causal and structural relations, not from every related edge.
Foundations · builds on
Water cycledepends onWater (H₂O)Established
water cycle depends on Water (H₂O).
Mechanism: The water cycle depends on water as the substance that moves through it — the same molecules cycling endlessly between sea, sky and land.
- Wikidata verifiedmoderate evidence
System context
Water cycleis aBiogeochemical cycleEstablished
water cycle is a kind of biogeochemical cycle.
Mechanism: The water cycle is a biogeochemical cycle: water moves in a closed loop through ocean, air, land and living things, changing state as it goes.
- Wikidata verifiedmoderate evidence
Water cycleis part ofWater (H₂O)Established
water cycle is part of Water (H₂O).
Mechanism: The water cycle is the journey water takes — evaporating, condensing, falling and flowing — that continually redistributes it across the planet.
- Wikidata verifiedmoderate evidence
Aquiferis part ofWater cycleEstablished
Aquifers store groundwater.
Mechanism: Rain soaks into porous rock and is held underground, a slow reservoir of the water cycle.
Condensationis part ofWater cycleEstablished
condensation is part of water cycle.
Mechanism: Condensation is the water cycle's turning point: rising vapour cools and reforms into droplets, building the clouds from which rain falls.
- Wikidata verifiedmoderate evidence
Evaporationis part ofWater cycleEstablished
evaporation is part of water cycle.
Mechanism: Evaporation begins the water cycle: solar heat turns liquid water at the surface into vapour that rises into the atmosphere.
- Wikidata verifiedmoderate evidence
Structural role & consequence
Interpreted from the current atlas graph — what the connections mean, not just how many there are.
Currently dark in the atlas: no key date stored · 9 of 9 of its relations lack claim-level evidence.
atlas representation · Describes the current Thinking OS representation, not the state of the world.
Builds on 1 foundation (requires / depends-on / derived-from / emerges-from).
structural · Structural graph analysis — not a claim of importance, causation or history.
Exercises 2 annotated mental models — a concept that connects several thinking patterns.
curated · Curated annotations, not a derived measure.
Structural neighbourhood: 8 → 22 → 54 concepts reachable within 3 hops.
structural · Structural reach — being reachable is not the same as being understood.
cross-field
7 within-field, 1 cross-field
Strengths & constraints
Constraints
- Evidence coverage currently thin in the atlas — few of its relationships carry claim-level evidence. atlas representation
- No dated history stored — the atlas records no key date for this concept. atlas representation
Conditions
- Its dependency reading rests on 1 foundation relation. structural
- Read structurally — most of its relationships carry no external evidence yet, so claims here are graph-derived. structural
Dependency radial
What this concept builds on (left) and what it makes possible (right) — derived from dependency and causal relations.
Seen through each discipline
How this concept sits in each of its fields — derived from its real connections in the graph, not asserted.
Through this lens it connects to Glacier, Groundwater, Aquifer and Biogeochemical cycle.
Through this lens it connects to Groundwater, Aquifer and Watershed.
Related ideas to explore
Concepts that look related but are not yet connected here — candidates for a connection to reason about, not established links.
This idea also appears in…
The same structure shows up in other disciplines. These are real recurrences drawn from the graph — a starting point for asking “what carries over, and what changes?”
Stocks and flows40 disciplines · 34 concepts
Conservation10 disciplines · 8 concepts
Concepts
shares a mental model · shares a mental model
shares a mental model · shares a mental model
shares a mental model
shares a mental model
shares a mental model
shares a mental model
Mental models at work here
Stocks and flows
A stock is an amount that accumulates; flows are the rates that add to or drain it. The stock changes only when inflow and outflow differ.
Think of a bathtub: the water level (stock) rises or falls depending on the tap (inflow) and the drain (outflow).
Conservation
Some quantity stays constant no matter how a system rearranges — it can move or transform but is never created or destroyed.
Track the conserved quantity like an accountant: whatever leaves here must show up there. A missing amount means you've missed a path.
- Connects 8 other ideas across 3 disciplines.
- A cross-disciplinary bridge — its connections reach into 4 other fields.
- Most of its connections are of the “Kind & structure” kind.
- It exercises 2 reusable thinking patterns.
Derived from the graph’s real structure — observations, not a score.
Sources
- Wikipedia (English & German editions) verifiedmoderate evidence
- Wikidata verifiedmoderate evidence