| Issue |
La Houille Blanche
Number 4-5, Août 2002
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 40 - 43 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/lhb/2002056 | |
| Published online | 01 July 2009 | |
De la cosmogonie à l'hydrologie : une histoire des idées
About cosmogony and hydrology : a history of ideas
1
Suez Environnement
2
Eau et Force
Abstract
Hydrology aims to explain the water cycle in a single and complicated object. the Earth, where the atmosphere, sub-surface and underground have complex relations with other physical, geochemical and biological cycles. Since its fomation. 4.55 Gy BP (Before Present), the Earth has evolved toward its present state. The proto-oceans already existed 3.8 Gy BP. They have been partially or totally evaporated during the great bombardment period (4.44-3.8 Ga BP), and were totally formed 3.8 Ga BP. Their volume was stabilized at the end of the Archean period. The water cycle therefore has itself an history, all the more interesting in its present form that it is a very young science. Various branches of natural sciences are therefore closely linked to the water cycle. Calling to mind all of the mythical or scientific theories which explain how the Earth and the universe were formed, we propose to piece together the historical evolution of the ideas, concepts and tools which have been developed since the Antiquity period to the present time.
© Société Hydrotechnique de France, 2002