General concepts
The hydrological cycle (or water cycle) is the never-ending circulation of water and water vapor over the entire Earth (Chow, 1964; Voskrensky, in UNESCO, 1978). This circulation penetrates the three parts of the total Earth system (Emiliani, 1995): the atmosphere (the gaseous envelope above the hydrosphere), the hydrosphere (the water covering the surface of the Earth), and the lithosphere (the solid rock beneath the hydrosphere). Solar energy and gravity provide the energy for the circulation.
The idea of a hydrological cycle was expressed at least two centuries BCin the Bible (Ecclesiastes), but it took another 1000 years before the concept was accepted and expressed by several natural philosphers in ancient Greece and in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, it is still surprising that it was not until the eighteenth century that several geologists in France and Britain made the discovery that rivers were actually responsible for cutting their own...
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Hordon, R.M. (1998). Hydrological cycle . In: Encyclopedia of Hydrology and Lakes. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht . https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4497-6_116
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