Outline the various route ways by which water from precipitation enters the river channel, and discuss the effect of the relative proportions of these route ways on the river hydrograph?

Precipitation is formed in five main stores around the world. Snow and ice make up

2.2% of the worlds water, groundwater 0.62%, soil water 0.01%, water in atmosphere

0.01% and obviously the biggest store being Oceans 97.2%. Within this essay I will

outline the different routes that water from precipitation enters the river channel and

will discuss the effects of this upon a river hydrograph. The essay will state the

various routes and comment on what they will do to a river hydrograph at different

levels storm conditions or drought conditions.

Surface run-off or overland flow is one major route for precipitation to enter the

river channel. When rain is released and hits the ground at storm levels the ground is

saturated and so the soil can take no more and so surface water starts to travel down

the drainage basin to where it can find the river channel. This process can either be

slow under normal precipitation levels or can be very quick ...