The water cycle transports which substance?

• A. Water
• B. Oxygen
• C. Carbon dioxide
• D. Nutrients

Answer: (A)

The water cycle moves water itself through Earth's different reservoirs. Energy from the sun drives evaporation, lifting water from oceans and other bodies into the air; in the atmosphere it condenses into clouds and eventually precipitates back to the surface. From there, water travels as runoff, infiltrates the ground, becomes groundwater, and is taken up by organisms or evaporates again, continuing the cycle. While oxygen, carbon dioxide, or nutrients can be carried by water or moved by other processes, the substance that the cycle primarily transports is water in its liquid, vapor, and ice forms.