Hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is call ...

is the science which studies the

water cycle The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the hydrological cycle, is a biogeochemical cycle that describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. The mass of water on Earth remains fairly cons ...

as a whole, hence the water exchanges between soil and atmosphere (

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

and evaporation) but also between the soil and sub ground (groundwater). Switzerland has a varied and complex hydrological system. The

climate of Switzerland The geography of Switzerland encompasses the geographical features of Switzerland, a mountainous and landlocked country located in Western and Central Europe. Switzerland's natural landscape is marked by its numerous lakes and mountains. It ...

gives precipitation under the form of snow and rain and is also responsible for the evaporation of water into the atmosphere. The altitude and climate allow the formation and maintenance of many glaciers that feed rivers from five major European river catchments, through which water leaves the country and joins the sea. Switzerland is sometimes called the "water tower of Europe". Water from Switzerland reaches all northern, southern, western and eastern parts of Europe.

Surface water

Surface water flows through a network of nearly 65,000 km of

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

s, shared between the basins of five European rivers: the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

, the Rhone, the Po, the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

and the

Adige The Adige (; german: Etsch ; vec, Àdexe ; rm, Adisch ; lld, Adesc; la, Athesis; grc, Ἄθεσις, Áthesis, or , ''Átagis'') is the second-longest river in Italy, after the Po. It rises near the Reschen Pass in the Vinschgau in the pro ...

. Thus, the hydrological network of Switzerland brings feeds the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

, the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

(Western Mediterranean and

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

) and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

. Among these five rivers, two have their source in Switzerland, the Rhine and the Rhone. The other three rivers have tributaries that originate in Switzerland. While most of the country drains into the North Sea, most of the basins (3 out of 5) drain into the Mediterranean Sea. All major

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

s of Switzerland are located in the Rhine, Rhone and Po basins. Lakes in the Danube and Adige basins are less than 5 km². All basins except the Adige have glaciers.

Groundwater

Groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated ...

refers to water located beneath the ground surface, as opposed to surface water that forms lakes and rivers. This is called

hydrogeology Hydrogeology (''hydro-'' meaning water, and ''-geology'' meaning the study of the Earth) is the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rocks of the Earth's crust (commonly in aqui ...

. The nature and location of the groundwater is defined by the geological nature of the soils. In the mid-twentieth century, knowledge of groundwater in Switzerland suffered from significant gaps. They were partially filled in the 1980s and 1990s, with a national research program. The geological structure of Switzerland was formed by collision of two tectonic plates, the

Eurasian plate The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...

to the north and the

Adriatic plate The Adriatic or Apulian Plate is a small tectonic plate carrying primarily continental crust that broke away from the African Plate along a large transform fault in the Cretaceous period. The name Adriatic Plate is usually used when referring ...

to the south. Geologically, the subsoil is very complex and varied with the Alps in the south, the Jura in the northwest and the plateau between them. Large quantities of water are present in the basement of Switzerland, and form a vast network linked to the geological structures. The underground lake of Saint-Léonard, located in Valais, with its 300 m long and 25 m wide is a notable example. Each year, one hectare of the Swiss plateau filter an average of four million liters of clean groundwater. According to the Federal Office of Environment, the Swiss basement contains about fifty billion m3 of water. Groundwater is by far the main source of drinking water in Switzerland, covering 80% of requirements. Considering other uses (drinking water and industrial water), groundwater covers 58% of requirements.

References

The Hydrology of Switzerland
admin.ch

External links

River basins on the Swiss National Map
{{Authority control Hydrology Geography of Switzerland Water in Switzerland

Surface water

Groundwater

See also

References

External links