The global hydrologic cycle and its continental links

The terms of “the Global Hydrologic Cycle” and “the river flow”, that is the continental stage of this cycle, are made more exact in this article. The possibility to regard the river flow as a consecutive change of the genetically and qualitatively different water masses is based here. Processes of mixing of the river water masses and transformation of their chemical composition take place in lakes and reservoirs. As a result of it some complicated structures, which consist of water masses of various genesis, form there. It was shown by calculations that it is an especially multicomponent one in man-made lakes with the residence time of approximately 0.5 yr. The structures of the continental links of the Global Hydrologic Cycle are compared. It is shown that the greater is the capture of advective moisture by the continent the more intensive is the continental water cycle and the higher is the river flow from the continent. Simultaneously these processes effect the mean chemical composition of water and the quantity of dissolved matter, flowing from each continent. It is supposed that the growing water consumption will cause different trends of water resources increase for different continents.