What are the main processes of the water cycle?

The correct choice encompasses the comprehensive series of processes that make up the water cycle, illustrating how water moves through its various states in the environment. The main processes involved are evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, and runoff.

Evaporation is where water is transformed from liquid to vapor, often occurring from oceans, rivers, and lakes due to heat from the sun. This vapor rises into the atmosphere, where it cools and undergoes condensation, forming clouds. When the clouds become heavy with moisture, they release this water in the form of precipitation, which includes rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

Once the water reaches the ground, it can infiltrate through soil and rock layers, replenishing groundwater supplies. Some of it will flow over the land as surface runoff, eventually returning to bodies of water like rivers and lakes, thereby completing the cycle and making water available for evaporation again.

While the other options contain elements related to the water cycle, they either lack completeness, such as excluding significant processes like infiltration and runoff, or focus on aspects that do not cover the entire scope of water movement and state changes effectively. Therefore, the choice representing all these processes accurately portrays the complexity and continuity of the water cycle.