Carbon and Water cycle key words Flashcards
Discharge
Volume of Water
Photosynthesis
Transfers carbon stored in the atmosphere into biomass
Sequestration
Carbon from the atmosphere captured in sedimentary rocks or as fossil fuels
Mechanisation
Increase use of machinery for farming
Hydrocarbons
Fossil fuels - formed when pre-historic organic matter is buried. Then pressurised by layers of Earth above
Industrialisation
Increase in manufacturing and factories
Anthropogenically
Caused by human activity
Open system
Both energy and matter can enter and leave
Closed system
Matter can’t enter or leave
Dynamic equilibrium
When inputs and outputs of a system are balanced
Cryosphere
All forms of frozen water
Lithosphere
The rock shell (crust) of the Earth’s surface
Biosphere
Zones of all living things
Hydrosphere
All of the existing water on or within the solid surface of the earth
Atmosphere
The blanket of air that surrounds the Earth’s surface
Atmosphere
The blanket of air that surrounds the Earth’s surface
Evaporation
The vapourisation of a liquid to a gas
Condensation
The change from a gas to a liquid
Transpiration
The biological process where water is lost from plants through pores called stomata
Evapo-transpiration
The process of evaporation and transpiration together
Drainage basin
The area surrounding a river, where the rain falling on the land falls into the river
Water balance
Shows the balance between inputs and outputs
Water Surplus
Precipitation exceeds evapotranspiration
Ground store depletion
Precipitation is lower than evapotranspiration
Hydrograph
Shows a rivers discharge over time after a storm event
Biomass
Is organic, made of material that comes from living organisms, such as plants and animals
Combustion
Transfers carbon stored in living, dead or decomposed biomass into the atmosphere by burning
Respiration
Transfers carbon from living organisms into the atmosphere
Decomposition
Transfers carbon from dead biomass to the atmosphere and the soil
Weathering
Transfers carbon from the atmosphere to the hydrosphere and biosphere
Carbon Budget
Difference between inputs and outputs of carbon
Mitigation
The action of reducing the action of something (climate change)
