Cycles

Question 1

What’s the Keeling Curve

Answer 1

May is the turning point between all the decomposition throughout the winter months and the burst of photosynthesis that occurs with the return of leaves to the trees in spring. CO2 measurements all over the globe reflect this pattern of peak CO2 concentration occurring each May, regardless of the level of that peak. Atmospheric CO2 has reached daily peaks of 400 parts per million for the first time this year as a result of the upward trend in CO2 overall, and the first monthly peak will likely occur in May.

Question 2

The Gravitational pull of what planets influence the earths position in relation to the Sun

Answer 2

The earth position in relation to the sun influences how much carbon there is on the planet- astronomically the earth was closer to the sun so the planet is warmer. - because of the gravitational pull of mars Jupiter and Saturn

Question 3

What is the ‘Maunder Minimum’?

Answer 3

The Maunder Minimum, also known as the “prolonged sunspot minimum”, was a period around 1645 to 1715 during which sunspots became exceedingly rare. During a 28-year period (1672–1699) within the minimum, observations revealed fewer than 50 sunspots.

Question 4

Systems in a hierarchy of scales….

Answer 4

connections – everything influences everything= feedbacks, feedback loops, positive and negative

Question 5

The Gaia Hypothesis

Answer 5

That the earth is a giant organism

Question 6

Criticisms of Gaia

Answer 6

Can the Earth itself really be defined as an organism?

Teleological: defined by the purpose a phenomena serves rather than the cause (pseudo-religious)

Some of the fundamental processes shown to be misunderstood by Lovelock

Question 7

Percentages of Elements in the atmosphere

Answer 7

Nitrogen : 78%
Oxygen : 21%
Carbon Dioxide : 0.3%

Question 8

Cybernetics ?

Answer 8

studied regulatory systems Processes and feedback with climate change

Question 9

Positive Feedback Loops

Answer 9

trigger change which in turn will trigger more change

Question 10

Negative Feedback Loops

Answer 10

dampens / slows down/ stops the initial change within the system

Question 11

The planet is a finite system. What are the implications of this?

Answer 11

It was the idea that the planet was too big for us to have an effect on it . There was a percpection shift.

Question 12

Silicate Rock Weathering

Answer 12

CO2 and rainwater react with silicate rocks, releasing calcium, magnesium and bicarbonate ions to the ocean where they react to form to carbonate rocks= goes to the earths crusts) removes carbon from the atmosphere over a larger timescale= balances the carbon released by natural volcanic and metamorphic processes e.e.= occurs faster under warmer conditions = helps stabilize the earths climate= cannot completely cancel out the brightening of the sun.

Question 13

Plant acidic weathering

Answer 13

helps dissolve things faster = more carbon into the earths crust.

Question 14

Snowball earth aka the ‘Ice Albedo Feedback Loop’

Answer 14

= the earths climate could be tipped into a frozen state which would be just as stable as it is today just frozen aka the ‘snowball earth’

Ice and snow are reflective to the sun meaning that the earth wouldn’t heat to the same degree (high albedo)

= if something caused the earth to cool down *like a drop in atmospheric carbon ‘ the snow would expand = reflecting even more sunlight = cylchred adborth postif

= amplify carbon change in either direction= if there Is a higher albedo where there’s more sun radiation more of it will be reflected again causing the earth to cool further

= if it hits a 30* latitude to the tropics it’ll get to the point that the feedback ‘runs away’ = any cooling will cause that more ice coverage = a snowball earth= can only happens if the feedback loop accelerates by 100%

= the output of carbon from volcanic activity would eventually increase and melt through the ice sheet causing a negative feedback loop and beginning to revert it back to it’s original state.= meagre flux of heat due to the new sheet of carbon = heating things up again= could lead to another ‘ice albedo feedback loop’ leading to the earth re freezing

Ozone Molecule = 3O

Question 15

Stratospheric ozone depletion

Answer 15

When chlorine and bromine atoms come into contact with ozone in the stratosphere, they destroy ozone molecules. One chlorine atom can destroy over 100,000 ozone molecules before it is removed from the stratosphere. Ozone can be destroyed more quickly than it is naturally created

Question 16

Atmosphere

Answer 16

Thermosphere

Mesosphere

Stratosphere- ozone layer is here- planes tend to travel here

Troposphere

Question 17

Hydrosphere

Answer 17

Evaporation

Precipitation

Groundwater

Subsurface runoff

Lakes

Total terrestrial evapotranspiration

Question 18

Cryosphere

Answer 18

What does the cryosphere do? How will the melting and expanding of the hydrosphere effect the systems?

Permafrost- water within rocks that freezes

Sea ice – a new source of ice

Lake and river ice

Question 19

Lithsophere

Answer 19

Asthenosphere

Tectonic plates = effect the land

Question 20

Bisosphere

Answer 20

The biosphere: those parts of the Earth system (atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere) capable of supporting life

Chlorofyll content = biosphere in the ocean= represents ff- can be detected from satelites from space

Oceanic deserts? No productivity taking place? Not limited by light so something is stopping production

Question 21

The Deep Biosphere

Answer 21

The deep biosphere is estimated to host the majority of microbial life on Earth, and about 10-20% of all terrestrial biomass. The ecosystems of this vast subterranean biosphere span from habitats deep beneath the ocean floor to fractured continental rocks beneath our feet

Question 22

Give an Example of a positive feedback loop

Answer 22

A effects B and then B affects A= amplifying = positive feedback loop

Albedo and a snowball earth
Albedo- Solar waves reflected back up to the atmosphere due to surface reflectivity of substances on earth- the amount of solar radiation from the sun reflecting back to the atmosphere depending on the reflectivity of the surface

Some sun radiation goes all the way through to the earth and some gets reflected by clouds

e.g. snow – climate cooling = more snow = more of an albedo effects = less heat = Artic Amplification (dry snow has a reflectivity if 84%) (Melting Snow 74%), (Debris covered ice 12%- darker particul heat up and melt the snow)

Sea ice is very important for the climate- from the freezing of the sea itself –1.9* , different freezing level when there’s salt , if the water is fresh then it’ll freeze at a higher temp

Question 23

What is Artic Amplification?

Answer 23

Sea ice has high albedo- the snow stays on the sea ice = a very high reflectivity= without it the dark ocean surface is exposed which absorbs the heat and causes more melting = positive feedback loop
Artic Amplification – highest rate of warming in the artic

Question 24

Give an example of a negative feedback loop?

Answer 24

The Claw Hypothesis
The Claw Hypothesis- provides a mechanism by which plankton may modify climate through the atmospheric sulfur cycle via the provision of sulfate cloud condensation nuclei. The CLAW hypothesis was published over 20 years ago and has stimulated a great deal of research.

Question 25

Give an example of a positive and negative feedback loop

Answer 25

The PETM (Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum)
The planet warmed 5-8* due to a volcanic erruption increasing in methane = oceans asidified and animals die
Calcium Carbonate in the water suddenly suddenly went to zero The ocean was warming prior to this event and then suddenly we past a tipping point- gas hydrates – ice substance where methane is locked in a lattice of ice usually stable but if the temp rises is becomes unstable and dissociates meaning the methane is released

Some would argue that this gas was then exhausted so no more gas was pumped into the atmosphere – there are processes that we don’t fully understand that will bring the earth back to an equilibrium at some point.

Question 26

Biogeochemical cycling

Answer 26

Biogeochemical cycles mainly refer to the movement of nutrients and other elements between biotic and abiotic factors.” The term biogeochemical is derived from “bio” meaning biosphere, “geo” meaning the geological components and “chemical” meaning the elements that move through a cycle

Question 27

How is the water cycle linked to the climate?

Answer 27

Water cycle is linked with the earths climate as is driven by energy but also creates it e.g when it changes from solid to liquid, liquid to gas e.g it requires energy (which primarily comes from the sun ) equally when water condenses from gas to liquid or liquid to solid it releases energy adding more to the cycle

Question 28

The Rock Cycle

Answer 28

Over long periods of time things are recycled within the earths crust- some is lost in oceanic rocks but most is returned back to the earth by the rock cycle

Question 29

What is an oceanic plate ?

Answer 29

Created with basalt and gabbro (dark colored) -at spreading centers- thinner and denser(base rich and alkali, iron e.e.) than continental crust- doesn’t float like continental plates it sinks back down to the mantle over a period of 200 million years. Form positive ridges as it cools it subsides
Crud forming- lighter material that forms on the surface – doesn’t go back down- forms bigger lumps = land= silica rich

Question 30

What is a continental plate?

Answer 30

low density allows it to float creating land.

Earths crust is about 4 billion years old and a product of geologic recycling. -the crust in the middle is older than the outside

Question 31

The Lithosphere

Answer 31

The solid outer part of the earth – includes the brittle upper part of the mantle- asthenosphere is beneath it
100km thick- considered elastic but still a solid and not liquid caused by the high pressure caused by miles of mantle and crust
The brittleness of the mantle is enough to cause faults and earthquakes

Question 32

What did Pangea lead to?

Answer 32

Mass Extinction
As Pangea formed, the extent of shallow water habitats declined, and land barriers inhibited cold polar waters from circulating into the tropics. This is thought to have reduced dissolved oxygen levels in the warm water habitats that remained and contributed to the 95 percent reduction of diversity in marine species.

Question 33

Tectonic control of the carbon cycle

Answer 33

over long geologic times carbon dioxide returns to the atmosphere by decomposition of limestones subducted to the Earth’s deep interior, releasing carbon dioxide through gases dissolved in magmas that rise to the surface. Plate tectonics and the supercontinent cycle also play a large role in cycling carbon between the atmosphere and rock sphere.

Question 34

How do suprecontinents form? How does this effect the tectonic effect on the climate and carbon cycle?

Answer 34

continents collide to form a supercontinent, the passive margins on these continents that contain thick limestone sequences are uplifted above sea level. The tectonic uplifting of carbonate rocks causes them to be exposed to the atmosphere during continental collisions. The calcium carbonate (CaC03) then combines with atmospheric Co2, depositing it in the oceans. Thus continental collisions and times of supercontinent formation are associated with drawdown and reduction of Co2 from the atmosphere, global cooling, and sea-level changes

Question 35

Limestone and organic matter and the carbon cycle?

Answer 35

The mass of carbon stored in the limestone and organic matter reservoirs on Earth is huge, about 2,000 times greater than all the carbon presently in the atmosphere and oceans combined. Living plants contain about the same amount of carbon as that in the atmosphere, so human activities such as deforestation that change the vegetation balance on the planet may significantly change the balance between atmospheric and living organic reservoirs for the carbon, putting more Co2 in the atmosphere and altering global climate.

Question 36

The rock cycle

Answer 36

Magma may not escape the surface, could solidify- e.e. granite

Rocks that come out as the solidification of magma is igneous rock

Metamorphic rocks = metamorphism of other ricks = heat and pressure changes the rock

Question 37

Supercontinent cycle

Answer 37

The supercontinent cycle describes the assembly, duration and fragmentation of the largest landmasses on Earth as a result of large-scale, long-term plate tectonic processes originating within the mantle and the crust.

In the 19th century, geologists believed that as the Earth cooled and shrank, the crust underwent collapse. Therefore, land bridges for example between South America and Africa sank and gave way to the South Atlantic Ocean.

Question 38

Mountain building- orogenesis

Answer 38

The himilaya – sediement being eroded and distriupted by ice

Continent continent collusions – india , 40 million years ago ( been going on for 40 million years), the ocean ahead of india was subducted and then eventually collided with Asia.

Question 39

Earths Radiation Balance

Answer 39

Heat resulting from the absorption of incoming shortwave radiation is emitted as longwave radiation. Radiation from the warmed upper atmosphere, along with a small amount from the Earth’s surface, radiates out to space. Most of the emitted longwave radiation warms the lower atmosphere, which in turn warms our planet’s surface.

Question 40

Why is Lattitude fundemental?

Answer 40

It affects temperature by influencing the seasonal range in solar intensity. It influences precipitation in as much as evaporation is temperature dependent.

Question 41

How is the general circulation of the atmosphere related to the ocean?

Answer 41

Because air and currents work together to re-distribute heat.
Winds blowing over the sea creates currents
Winds also help evaporate water which comes as precipitation later (rain)

Question 42

Evaporation and precipitation cycle

Answer 42

aka water moving and the heat moving with it
The ocean surface is a source of atmospheric heat as the water processes circulate the heat bringing it to the top
Sea ice expands upon cooling surface waters below the freezing point and this reflects more sunlight. A warming ocean gives off carbon dioxide, favoring further warming. Both of these mechanisms are “positive feedback” within the climate machine

Question 43

The Coriolis Effect

Answer 43

the result of Earth’s rotation on weather patterns and ocean currents
It makes storms swirl clockwise in the Southern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere.
The Earth rotates faster at the equater than the poles

Question 44

Why does the earth rotate faster at the equator (The Coriolis Effect)

Answer 44

Earth is wider at the Equator, so to make a rotation in one 24-hour period, equatorial regions race nearly 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) per hour. Near the poles, Earth rotates at a sluggish 0.00008 kilometers (0.00005 miles) per hour.

Question 45

Fluids traveling across large areas, such as air currents, are like the path of the ball
Explain this in regards to the coriolisis effect

Answer 45

They appear to bend to the right in the Northern Hemisphere. The Coriolis effect behaves the opposite way in the Southern Hemisphere, where currents appear to bend to the left.

Question 46

The Ozone Hole

Answer 46

Ozone (O3) in the upper atmosphere shields the Earth from UV radiation from the sun. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) used as refrigerants react with O3 and destroy it as a protective screen. The Montreal Protocol (1987) was signed by 59 countries to ban CFC use. It remains the single most effective international agreement in environmental legislation. The “ozone hole” was interpreted to have started to heal in 2016.

1974 – Marina Molina and Sherwood Roland created a model that would predict the destruction of the ozone layer, they predicted a 7% loss over the next 50-100 years. In reality it was much worse than this.

The interaction between the polar vortex circulation of the atmosphere and very cold polar stratospheric clouds, a chemical reaction on their surface liberated chlorine and bromine = the destruction of the ozone layer

Question 47

Name a Short term process to reduce carbon in the atmsosphere

Answer 47

“ transfer of carbon between Atm, Oceans, and Life”= ff, respiration, air sea exchange and humus in soil.

Question 48

Describe how the Silicate Weathering process continues

Answer 48

2(CO2)+ 3(H2O)+CaSiO3 = Ca2+ 2(HCO3-)+H2SiO4 = ions transported by rivers to the ocean where their used In oceanic production, carbonate is produced = carbonated production = cycle continues

Question 49

Weathering of Limestone Rocks

Answer 49

dosen’t do anything to reduce the Co2 content of the atmosphere

Question 50

Increased sea floor spreading

Answer 50

= more co2 = Marine sediments on top of a oceanic plate is mostly carbon and their dragged down to the subduction zone as well.

Question 51

Describe Earths history in intervals

Answer 51

warmer greenhouse conditions have dominated earths history so far (red and brown periods), there have been extended icehouse periods blue intervals)
The current icehouse began ~34 million years ago with increased glaciation in Antarctica and accelerated with northern hemisphere glaciation over the past 3 million years.

Question 52

Pleistocene oceanic bottom water temperatures were 15 °C lower than during the Mesozoic greenhouse. Why?

Answer 52

Lower CO2 percentages, sea levels were lower= rates of carbon burial, or sequestration of organic carbon, are reduced in icehouse times, because the oceans are better aerated and the area of dysoxic restricted basins is smaller.

Question 53

Long-term CO2 fluctuations

Answer 53

“ regulation of the transfer of carbon to and from rocks”
Over millions of years, carbon moves from rocks and the earth through complex feedback loops, nutrient cycles, atmospheric processes, carbon burial and climate.

Question 54

What do fluxes in Carbon (long term) show?

Answer 54

The fluxes in carbon since the phanerozoic era (550 million years ago) shows how the burial of organic matter leads to the formation of fossil fuels and atmospheric composition,

Question 55

What is the Exchange of carbon between rocks and the surficial system,

Answer 55

consists of the ocean, atmosphere, biosphere and soils. The long-term carbon cycle is the main controller of the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide and (along with the sulphur cycle) atmospheric oxygen over a geological timescale

Question 56

Iced Rafted Debris

Answer 56

terrigenous material transported within a matrix of ice and deposited in marine or lake sediments when the ice matrix melts- black seems running through an ice Berg = sediment = ice melts and the sediment is released to the sea bed. = calcium carbonate made up off shells- rock debris and mineral fragment w biological –faces of major ice berg distribution

Question 57

Long-term Cenozoic cooling trend-

Answer 57

The long-term climate change during the Cenozoic corresponds at first order to a cooling, which drove Earth from a state without ice caps to one with two poles glaciated [Fischer, 1981]

Question 58

Peaks of the carbon cycles over the past thousand years…

Answer 58

are all around 280-300 ppm(before the industrial revolution) 25,000 years ago a value of 180ppm. Their cycles and are repetitive

Glacial and interglacial cycles within the icehouse faze = Seasonal component that is effected = keeling curve = ff = antartic is a good place to messure as the season dosen’t effect it that much

Question 59

Biochemical Recycling

Answer 59

The exchange of of gas between the atmosphere and ocean
e.g solar heating leads to water vaperation ( is responsible for 90% of this) which in turn goes to the atmosphere cools and falls as rain, ending up back in the ocean.
The cycles that happen within the earths system e.g the rock cycle or the carbon cycle

Question 60

The Oxygen Cycle

Answer 60

Plant exchange with the atmosphere creating oxygen. Ff

Resbiradaeth – we take in oxygen and create co2 for plants = repeat

Question 61

What was the Great Oxygenation

Answer 61

The “Great Oxidation” event, 2.4 Ba, resulted from the evolution of photosynthesizing cyanobacteria. This is represented in the geological record by the first appearance of red beds caused by the oxidation of iron-rich minerals (rusting)

Question 62

Low oxygen environments are…

Answer 62

anaerobic meaning the iron minerals reduce and they loose their colors

Question 63

Deep marine environments

Answer 63

no o2 = sediment is reduced so their also grey, white or back e.g the white cliffs of dover.

Question 64

Oxygen is highly reactive meaning…

Answer 64

it robs electrons from other elements and compounds in the process of oxidation (the opposite is reduction).

Question 65

How does aerobic respiration work?

Answer 65

It breaks down the organic carbon produced by photosynthesis in animals, fungi, microbes and by photosynthesizing organisms to fuel their growth.

Some of the oxygen is bound in the rocks = not used = not important

Most o comes from ff

Question 66

Why is Molecular oxygen is the most efficient electron acceptor for respiration?

Answer 66

due to its high affinity for electrons. However, some organisms have evolved to use other final electron acceptors, and as such, can perform respiration without oxygen.

Question 67

Phospherus cycles

Answer 67

No significant gas faze

Very rare element

Comes from minerals in rocks

Apatit- has lots of phosphorus

A bit escapes the recycling and accumulates in the ocean

Phosphorus enters the Earth system through weathering of rocks containing the mineral apatite. Fungi dissolve apatite and convert phosphorus into liquid phase phosphate where it is available to land plants. Some liquid phosphate reaches the ocean via the hydrological cycle where it is available to marine primary producers. It is readily recycled in the surface ocean, but some sinks into deep waters (AABW, NADW) fuelling productivity where these deep waters upwell back to the surface.

Question 68

How does phospherate come from minerals in rocks ?

Answer 68

weathered out –becomes liquid- delivered to the ocean and used for production , gets buried and over time through tectonics gets recycled to the mineral faze

Question 69

What has lots of phospherate

Answer 69

Apatit- has lots of phosphorus- fungus can dissolve t and create phosphate and becomes available to plants

Question 70

How does phospherate fuel primary production in the ocean?

Answer 70

A bit escapes the recycling and accumulates in the ocean- the longer the circulation the more phosphate collects so when it upwells the water is very nutrient so then the water fuels primary production

Question 71

In what form is Nitrogen most commonly found?

Answer 71

Most abundant as gas

Question 72

Where is nitrogen most commonly found ?

Answer 72

the atmosphere but the molecules are very strongly bonded making them largely unavailable.

Question 73

How do you spilt oxygen from Nitrogen?

Answer 73

Splitting of nitrogen – nitrogen fixation – is achieved by plants with a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixing bacteria (in, for instance, root nodules) and, in the ocean, by cyanobacteria. This takes a lot of energy, fuelled by sunlight.

Question 74

What is Nitrogen usually fixed too?

Answer 74

Nitrogen is fixed into ammonium, NH4+, which yields energy when reacted with oxygen. Nitrifying bacteria live off this energy, converting ammonium to nitrite (NO2-) and then nitrate (NO3-). This is the major reservoir of biologically available nitrogen (assimilation). Nitrate can be used to oxidise organic matter, yielding energy, and converting nitrate back into nitrogen gas in a process called denitrification.

Question 75

How is Nitrogen fixation usually achieved?

Answer 75

Nitrogen fixation is achieved by plants that have a symbiotic relationship with plants = needs lots of energy and fueled by sunlight

Question 76

What uses nitrogen?

Answer 76

Photosynthesizers take up nitrate, and some ammonium, and convert it into organic matter. This is then recovered by decomposers, making it available again as a nutrient. Like phosphate, nitrate is readily recycled in the surface ocean but some sinks into the deep ocean to fuel productivity in upwelling regions.

Question 77

What causes a change in the seasons?

Answer 77

This tilting leads to a variation of solar energy that changes with latitude. This causes a seasonal variation in the intensity of sunlight reaching the surface and the number of hours of daylight. The variation in intensity results because the angle at which the sun’s rays hit the Earth changes with time of year= aka the tilt is the cause of seasons

Question 78

What does the axial tilt effect?

Answer 78

effect the carbon cycle and biosphere = more sunlight = more biosphere = less co2 in the atmosphere

Question 79

Explain Obliquity

Answer 79

Obliquity is the tilt of Earth’s axis relative to the plane of the ecliptic. This varies over 41,000 years from 22.1° to 24.5 °. This influences seasons, solstices, length of day and the angle of incoming radiation. A high angle of tilt increases the seasonal contrast, most effectively at high latitudes (e.g., winters in both hemispheres will be colder and summers hotter as obliquity increases). Obliquity thus causes amplification/suppression of seasons, especially at high latitudes.

Increases the seasonal contrast at the higher angle , winters in both hemispheres would be colder in both hemispheres

2 low frequency cycles- one is more oblique than the other – that happned once every 400,000 years

Question 80

What does the Combination of precession, obliquity and eccentricity result in?

Answer 80

They all combine through time to influene the amount of sun

Eccetion is moderated by axial precession

Question 81

The Milankovitch Hypothesis

Answer 81

If it’s cold In the summer that’s when there’s a change= that effect the albedo all year

The Milankovitch cycles drive all the other cycles which is caused by the gravitational pull

Question 82

Tidal generating forces are based on the gravitational attractive force…

Answer 82

While gravitational attractive forces vary inversely to the square of the distance between the objects, tidal generating forces vary inversely as the cube of the distance of the tide generating object. Therefore with tidal generating forces, distance is a more highly weighted variable than it is in the gravitational attractive force.

Question 83

What is Tidal resonance

Answer 83

Tidal resonance occurs when one of the tidal constituents is excited by the morphology of the coast/bathymetry. It is most pronounced when the continental shelf is ~0.25 the wavelength of the tidal wave. This causes an incident tidal wave to be reinforced by reflections between the coast and the shelf edge.

The most extreme manifestation of tidal resonance is the tidal bore, shown here in the Gironde Estuary SW France.

Question 84

Dissipation of tidal energy…

Answer 84

in the oceans has not been constant through geological time. During the LGM total dissipation was ~4.7 TW, at present it is ~3.5 TW. 20,000-25,000 years ago

Question 85

How did the earth and the moon seperate?

Answer 85

Earth had been spinning so fast that some material broke away and began to orbit the planet. What is most widely accepted today is the giant-impact theory. It proposes that the Moon formed during a collision between the Earth and another small planet, about the size of Mars.

Question 86

What is the The global thermohaline circulation

Answer 86

Thermohaline circulation begins in the Earth’s polar regions. When ocean water in these areas gets very cold, sea ice forms. The surrounding seawater gets saltier, increases in density and sinks. Winds drive ocean currents in the upper 100 meters of the ocean’s surface.
The global thermohaline circulation (Meridional Overturning Circulation): driven by wind stress and tidal mixing exploiting the potential energy of density contrasts as a function of temperature and salt content

Question 87

What is Bottom water production

Answer 87

Bottom waters are formed in the high latitudes of both hemispheres. In the Northern Hemisphere the densest waters are formed in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the Labrador and Greenland sea

Question 88

What are the seven stages of t he hydrological cycle

Answer 88

EVAPORATION.
CONDENSATION.
PRECIPITATION.
INTERCEPTION.
INFILTRATION.
PERCOLATION.
TRANSPIRATION.

Question 89

What is The hydrological cycle

Answer 89

The hydrologic cycle involves the continuous circulation of water in the Earth-Atmosphere system. At its core, the water cycle is the motion of the water from the ground to the atmosphere and back again

Question 90

Does the amount of water in the The hydrological cycle change

Answer 90

Although the total amount of water within the cycle remains essentially constant, its distribution among the various processes is continually changing.

Question 91

What is the The cryosphere

Answer 91

The cryosphere is the frozen water part of the Earth system.

This includes frozen parts of the ocean, such as waters surrounding Antarctica and the Arctic. There are places on Earth that are so cold that water is frozen solid

temperatures below 0°C

Question 92

Where is the largest part of the crysophere found?

Answer 92

The largest parts of the cryosphere, the continental ice sheets found in Greenland and Antarctica, as well as ice caps, glaciers, and areas of snow and permafrost. When continental ice flows out from land and to the sea surface, we get shelf ice.

Question 93

How does the cryosphere have an effect on the earths climate

Answer 93

Snow and ice reflect heat from the sun, helping to regulate our planet’s temperature. Because polar regions are some of the most sensitive to climate shifts, the cryosphere may be one of the first places where scientists are able to identify global changes in climate.

Question 94

What is the biosphere?

Answer 94

The biosphere is made up of the parts of Earth where life exists. The biosphere extends from the deepest root systems of trees, to the dark environment of ocean trenches, to lush rainforests and high mountaintops. Scientists describe Earth in terms of spheres.

Question 95

Sunspots represents holes …

Answer 95

where there isn’t any radtionon due to changes in the magnetic field in the sun itself.

Question 96

Why are sunspots temporary?

Answer 96

Sunspots are temporary features visible on the surface of the sun caused by slightly lower temperatures reflecting concentrations of magnetic field flux inhibiting convection. But around the sunspots are brighter areas that represent solar flares that are responsible for altering the total radiation emitted by the sun.

Question 97

How long is the solar cycle?

Answer 97

11 years peak to peak
Lots of sun spots mean there is lots of radiation

Question 98

Onset of the modern icehouse: 34Ma

Answer 98

Glaciation of Antarctica after 35 Ma BP

40 million years ago Antarctica was a warm ish place – a forest similar to the one in south America today

Each glaciation got bigger and bigger until about a million years ago –it filled the entire continent

Question 99

What is Nutrient cycling?

Answer 99

The nutrient cycle is a system where energy and matter are transferred between living organisms and non-living parts of the environment. This occurs as animals and plants consume nutrients found in the soil, and these nutrients are then released back into the environment via death and decomposition.

Question 100

What is the limited nutrient in the nutrient cycle

Answer 100

nitrogen

Question 101

Why are nutrients limited in the ocean?

Answer 101

Because of the density difference between surface water and the deep sea across most of the ocean, ocean circulation can only very slowly reintroduce dissolved nutrients to the euphotic zone. By driving nutrients out of the sunlit, buoyant surface waters, ocean productivity effectively limits itself.

Question 102

Enhanced Co2 in the atmosphere leads to

Answer 102

ocean acidification which is defined as a decrease in ocean pH caused by a reduction in carbonate ion availability
The ocean and atmosphere try to keep an equlirbium of carbon in the ocean and atmosphere
Seawater ph used to be between 8-9 in the late 1800, by 2100 it’s be below 8

Question 103

What are the forms that carbon occurs in the ocean?

Answer 103

Dissolved CO2 which reacts with seawater to form carbonic acid, H2CO3 (= ocean acidification)

Bicarbonate, HCO3

Question 104

A marine animal cannot use bicarbonate to make it’s shell …

Answer 104

cant make them due to a lack of carbonate in the water due to the chemical reactions

Question 105

Why is ocean acidification relevant

Answer 105

Ocean acidification inhibits the ability of calcifying organisms to grow their shells and may even cause dissolution of shells
Dissolution of gastropod molecules shell when placed in more acidic seawater over a period of 45 days- the solution of the shell matrix – an Asid alkali reaction

Inorganic carbon is locked in the shell of a bio

Question 106

What does ocean acidification do to the ccd

Answer 106

Ocean acidification causes the carbonate compensation depth (CCD) in the deep ocean to shoal (= get shallower) causing the dissolution of carbonate deposits on the seabed Ocean acidification causes the carbonate compensation depth (CCD) in the deep ocean to shoal (= get shallower) causing the dissolution of carbonate deposits on the seabed

More carbonate at the top of the sea bed but as the depth increasing theres less carbonate until it’s dissolved completely

The CCD – where there’s no calcium carbonate – is increasing as carbon levels increase

The burial of calcium carbonate is crucial to the carbon cycle but ocean acidification is stopping this process

Question 107

Enhanced nutrient = enhanced productivity
Explain this in terms of Eutrophication

Answer 107

= stimulates primary consumption = zoo plankton = takes oxygen + the new plant matter is dying and breaking down = taking more oxygen = eutrophic systems = the system will become basically anaerobic

It Is a natural process however we’ve interviened to an extreme extent

Ffen – an alkali bog – a base rich ffen – live in water logged conditions

Acid bog – nutrient poor – neutrophic ffen

Excessive run off of feritilizer gets rushed off and into river system = affecting these systems and artifically enhancing productivity

Question 108

What causes extreme Eutrophication

Answer 108

Eutrophication is enhanced through the runoff of detergents, agricultural fertilisers and/or sewage into natural systems. Key indicators of cultural eutrophication are blooms of phytoplankton and cyanobacteria. These stimulate secondary consumption and respiration causing drawdown of oxygen levels.

Can effect the ocean as well – especially where theres outflow of fresh water systems that are nutrient enhances= a major problem

Question 109

Explain the link between the biosphere and the carbon cycle

Answer 109

Carbon storage and exchange

For example, in the food chain, plants move carbon from the atmosphere into the biosphere through photosynthesis. They use energy from the sun to chemically combine carbon dioxide with hydrogen and oxygen from water to create sugar molecules.1