MY NEW FIELD OF STUDY

Introduction

Molecular Hydrology- the incredible journey of water molecules.

Water molecules are like mischievous urchins: hyper active, restless and mercurial. They can grow wings and fly like butterflies into the air or metamorphose into earthworms and burrow into the earth eating up whatever comes in their way. The movement of these molecules may be invisible as in diffusion or osmosis; or gigantic like water falls and the mighty rivers in the continents or still mightier, like the rivers in the ocean called ocean currents. At present hydrology is restricted to the visible water in the surface of the continent. This is only a small fraction of the water contents of the continents.

Huge quantities of snow and ice are deposited above the snowline of mountains; a small part of this melts and flows through rivers during summer. But the major part of it remains locked up in the valleys in what is known as glacier lakes. Because of the pressure of the snow and ice over the top of the mountains, the lower layer of ice melts and the water molecules are driven into the rock below, dissolving minerals and, through the pores in the rock the molecules travel down the minute channels which merge into bigger veins and traverse the whole length and breadth of the continents. The channels get broken, occasionally, near the surface of the earth and we get springs. The journey of the water into the Earth continues until the water molecules get heated up into steam. Thereafter the hot steam may once again travel to the higher strata of the contentment or spread even below the ocean bottom. On account of very high pressure steam pierces the bottom of the oceans and we have fresh water springs in the oceans, of which we know very little.

I would like to call the study of this invisible water molecules molecular hydrology. Obviously, this study will have to be conducted by a team of experts in various fields such as geography, geology, geophysics, oceanography, hydrology etc. which may yield surprising results.