{"id":16547,"date":"2018-01-08T19:18:39","date_gmt":"2018-01-08T19:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy?page_id=16547"},"modified":"2026-03-26T10:09:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T15:09:32","slug":"bodies-of-water","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/bodies-of-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Bodies of Water"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"mmDeferVideoEncompass_U3ZIx370qPU\" style=\"position: relative;\">\n\t\t\t<picture>\n\t\t\t\t<source srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/circle-play-duotone.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\">\n\t\t\t\t<source srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/circle-play-duotone.png\" type=\"image\/jpeg\"> \n\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\" id=\"videoThumbnailImage_U3ZIx370qPU\" data-source-videoID=\"U3ZIx370qPU\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/circle-play-duotone.png\" alt=\"Bodies of Water Video\" height=\"464\" width=\"825\" class=\"size-full\" data-matomo-title = \"Bodies of Water\">\n\t\t\t<\/picture>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<style>img#videoThumbnailImage_U3ZIx370qPU:hover {cursor:pointer;} img#videoThumbnailImage_U3ZIx370qPU {background-size:contain;background-image:url(\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/543-bodies-of-water-1.webp\");}<\/style>\n\t\t\t<script defer>\n\t\t\t  jQuery(\"img#videoThumbnailImage_U3ZIx370qPU\").click(function() {\n\t\t\t\tlet videoId = jQuery(this).attr(\"data-source-videoID\");\n\t\t\t\tlet helpTag = '<div id=\"mmDeferVideoYTMessage_U3ZIx370qPU\" style=\"display: none;position: absolute;top: -24px;width: 100%;text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-style: italic;font-size: small;border-top: 1px solid #fc0;\">Having trouble? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v='+videoId+'\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to watch on YouTube.<\/a><\/span><\/div>';\n\t\t\t\tlet tag = document.createElement(\"iframe\");\n\t\t\t\ttag.id = \"yt\" + videoId;\n\t\t\t\ttag.src = \"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/\" + videoId + \"?autoplay=1&controls=1&wmode=opaque&rel=0&egm=0&iv_load_policy=3&hd=0&enablejsapi=1\";\n\t\t\t\ttag.frameborder = 0;\n\t\t\t\ttag.allow = \"autoplay; fullscreen\";\n\t\t\t\ttag.width = this.width;\n\t\t\t\ttag.height = this.height;\n\t\t\t\ttag.setAttribute(\"data-matomo-title\",\"Bodies of Water\");\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\"div#mmDeferVideoEncompass_U3ZIx370qPU\").html(tag);\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\"div#mmDeferVideoEncompass_U3ZIx370qPU\").prepend(helpTag);\n\t\t\t\tsetTimeout(function(){jQuery(\"div#mmDeferVideoYTMessage_U3ZIx370qPU\").css(\"display\", \"block\");}, 2000);\n\t\t\t  });\n\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t\n<p><script>\nfunction Tkv_Function() {\n  var x = document.getElementById(\"Tkv\");\n  if (x.style.display === \"none\") {\n    x.style.display = \"block\";\n  } else {\n    x.style.display = \"none\";\n  }\n}\n<\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"moc-toc hide-on-desktop hide-on-tablet\">\n<div><button onclick=\"Tkv_Function()\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/toc2.svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"show or hide table of contents\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p>On this page<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<nav id=\"Tkv\" style=\"display:none;\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Oceans\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Oceans<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Seas\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Seas<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Wetlands_and_Deltas\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Wetlands and Deltas<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Lakes\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Lakes<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Ponds\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Ponds<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#The_Boiling_River\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">The Boiling River<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion\"><input id=\"transcript\" type=\"checkbox\" class=\"spoiler_button\" \/><label for=\"transcript\">Transcript<\/label>\n<div class=\"spoiler\" id=\"transcript-spoiler\">\n<p>Hi, everyone, and welcome to this video on bodies of water.<\/p>\n<p>There are many different ways that we have classified various types of bodies of water, and we\u2019ll discuss the most major ones in this video, as well as a couple of fun ones too, like the boiling river that may or may not exist.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s start with the big ones.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Oceans\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Oceans<\/h2>\n<p>\nComposed of salt water, oceans cover 70% of the Earth\u2019s surface, and, in reality, are one \u201cWorld Ocean\u201d that we\u2019ve broken up into five smaller divisions. They are, in descending order by size, the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern (or Antarctic), and Arctic. These are what we might term political or horizontal divisions, rather than physical or biological vertical divisions. Since the 1700s, there have been many mentions of some sort of southern ocean and recently, attempts have been made to formalize the Southern Ocean, given the importance of ocean currents. The Southern Ocean has the strongest and longest current in the world which circumvents Antarctica.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Seas\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Seas<\/h2>\n<p>\nNext up in size are seas. A sea is also made up of salt water, and is a large body of <a class=\"ylist\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/properties-of-water\/\">water<\/a> entirely or partially surrounded by land. This isn\u2019t to be confused with \u201cthe sea\u201d which is generally how people refer to the collection of oceans. It\u2019s a matter of specificity: if you\u2019re not being specific, you might take a holiday by the sea. If you are being specific, you might sail across the Mediterranean Sea or the Pacific Ocean. But you wouldn\u2019t go to the Pacific Sea.<\/p>\n<p>A few seas would be the Mediterranean, Bering, Norwegian, Arabian, and so on. You\u2019ll notice that these are often just bits of the ocean that are mostly surrounded by land that we\u2019ve named. The Caspian Sea is sometimes classified as a salt lake, although it\u2019s quite large.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Wetlands_and_Deltas\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Wetlands and Deltas<\/h2>\n<p>\nNow before we move inland to talk about lakes, let\u2019s first discuss wetlands and deltas. A delta is where a river meets the ocean, or sometimes a lake. Usually, the river fans out as it approaches sea level. They\u2019re formed when a river carries a certain amount of sediment at a higher rate and when it reaches a stagnant body of water, it forms a delta.<\/p>\n<p>A wetland is different from a delta, although wetlands often form near the shore. Wetlands form unique ecosystems that are inundated by water and contain an especially high degree of aquatic plants. Wetlands have been considered the most biologically diverse ecosystem.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Lakes\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Lakes<\/h2>\n<p>\nOkay, back to more traditional bodies of water. Lakes are the next largest after seas. A lake is always landlocked, meaning it\u2019s completely surrounded by land, except for a river that feeds or drains the lake. Apparently, scientists can\u2019t decide on a specific differentiation between lakes and ponds, so generally, we go by size: lakes are bigger. It depends on who you ask, but some people will say that a lake is a body of water that\u2019s 5+ acres in surface area, or up to 99+ acres in surface area. Almost exclusively, lakes are freshwater, unlike seas, bays, harbors, or anything that\u2019s made up of sea water.<\/p>\n<p>Lakes are formed for different reasons. Most often, lakes were formed (we think) by retreating glaciers that carved up the land. Sometimes they\u2019re formed by the movements of tectonic plates. If you want to learn more about <a class=\"ylist\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/plate-tectonic-theory\/\">tectonic plates<\/a>, check out our video on them!<\/p>\n<p>A fun type of lake is the oxbow lake. This is formed when a meandering river (which usually occurs in a low-lying plain) bends back on itself forming a U or horseshoe. The edges continue to erode, and eventually, the stream meets itself again, and the running water bypasses the loop and continues on the shorter route. This leaves the water in the loop to form a lake. In Australia, they call them billabongs.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Ponds\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Ponds<\/h2>\n<p>\nStill going down the list in size we have ponds next. These are freshwater and are often manmade. They\u2019re formed in a variety of different ways and include koi ponds and other aesthetic purposes, as well as uses for farming.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, there are many other types of bodies of water, such as fjords, wadis, runs, subglacial lakes, reservoirs, lagoons, kills, etc. But sadly, we don\u2019t have time to talk about all of those right now so you\u2019ll have to go research them on your own!<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"The_Boiling_River\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>The Boiling River<\/h2>\n<p>\nBut I promised you I\u2019d talk to you about the boiling river! Legend has it that when the Spanish conquistadors went into the Amazon rainforest in search of gold, few returned. Those that did told horror stories of man-eating snakes, diseases, dangerous creatures, and a river that boiled. <\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of years later, a young Peruvian named Andr\u00e9s Ruzo grew up hearing these tales and was determined to find this river. He eventually worked for National Geographic and would spend years researching and talking to locals about the boiling river. Mostly, he was laughed at for chasing old legends. But eventually, deep in the rainforest, he finally found the boiling river, with the help of the local guardian shaman. So yes, it does exist, although \u201cboiling\u201d is a bit hyperbolic. It is, however, huge, extremely hot, quite long, and non-volcanic. It\u2019s classified as a \u201cthermal river\u201d and isn\u2019t actually any hotter than other thermal bodies of water.<\/p>\n<p>Hope this was helpful!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"home-buttons\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/geography\/\">Return to Geography Videos<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Return to Geography Videos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95416,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-16547","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"page_category-geography-videos","7":"page_category-video-pages-for-study-course-sidebar-ad","8":"page_type-video","9":"subject_matter-social-studies"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16547"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280181,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16547\/revisions\/280181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}