Imagine you’re tracking a water molecule frozen in snow on land. Which of the following is a possible path it could take to eventually end up as part of the ocean?

• A. Melting into a stream, ingested by an animal, percolate into the ocean.
• B. Melting into a stream, evaporating into the atmosphere, then runoff into the ocean.
• C. Melting into soil, taken up by a plant, evapotranspiration into the ocean.
• D. Melting into soil, percolating into an aquifer, underground runoff into the ocean.

Answer: (D)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Start by understanding the water cycle, which includes processes like melting, evaporation, transpiration, and runoff. This cycle describes how water moves through the environment.
2. Consider the initial state: the water molecule is frozen in snow on land. The first step in its journey is melting, which turns the solid water into liquid form.
3. Once melted, the water can take several paths. One possibility is that it percolates into the soil. This involves the water seeping through the soil layers, potentially reaching an underground aquifer.
4. From the aquifer, the water can move through underground runoff. This is the process where water travels through the ground, often moving towards larger bodies of water like rivers, lakes, or oceans.
5. Finally, the water molecule reaches the ocean through underground runoff. This completes its journey from snow on land to becoming part of the ocean, illustrating one of the many paths in the water cycle.