1 In recent years, the U.S. has seen a number of winter storms that have caused surprisâ¦. 2  The Periodic Table of Elements Life is sustained by a number of chemical elements. 3  They are responsible for the birth of planets and the evolution of cells to complex organisms.
Water distribution on Earth - Distribution of saline and fresh water. 1  The total volume of water on Earth is estimated at 1.386 billion kmÂ³ (333 million cubic miles), with 97.5% being salt water and 2.5% being fresh water. 2  The total volume of water in rivers is estimated at 2,120 kmÂ³ (510 cubic miles), or 2% of the surface fresh water on Earth.
Freshwater represents only about three percent of all water on Earth and freshwater lakes and swamps account for a mere 0.29 percent of the Earth's freshwater. Twenty percent of all fresh surface water is in one lake, Lake Baikal in Asia. Another twenty percent (about 5,500 cubic miles (about 23,000 cubic kilometers)) is stored in the Great Lakes. Rivers hold only about 0.006 percent of total freshwater reserves. You can see that life on Earth survives on what is essentially only a drop in the bucket of Earth's total water supply!