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Geography > Earth’s Life Support System Part 1 > Flashcards

Earth’s Life Support System Part 1 Flashcards

1
Q

On a global scale, is the water cycle a closed or open system?

A

Closed system

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2
Q

On a global scale, is the carbon cycle a closed or open system?

A

Closed system

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3
Q

On a smaller scale, is the water cycle a closed or open system?

A

Open system

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4
Q

On a smaller scale, is the carbon cycle an open or closed system?

A

Open system

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5
Q

What are the stores in the water cycle, from smallest or largest?

A

Atmosphere
Land
Ocean

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6
Q

What are the flows in the water cycle?

A

Precipitation
Runoff/groundwater flow
Evapotranspiration

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7
Q

What are the stores in the global carbon cycle, from smallest to largest?

A

Atmosphere
Fossil fuels
Sea floor sediments
Oceans
Sedimentary rocks

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8
Q

How much carbon does sedimentary rocks hold?

A

99% of the carbon is stored in sedimentary rocks

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9
Q

How are sedimentary rocks formed?

A

Formed by shells and mud at the bottom of the ocean floor and become compressed over millions of years.

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10
Q

What are the flows in the global carbon cycle?

A

Photosynthesis
Respiration
Oxidation
Weathering

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11
Q

What percentage of water is stored in the Earth’s oceans?

A

97%

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12
Q

What is the percentage of water stored in polar ice and glaciers?

A

2%

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13
Q

How is water stored in the atmosphere?

A

Water vapour

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14
Q

Why is there a very small amount of water found in the atmosphere?

A

The rapid flux of water in and out of the atmosphere.

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15
Q

What’s evapotranspiration?

A

Water can be evaporated from oceans and soils and vapour can be transpired from plant leaves.

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16
Q

How does moisture leave the atmosphere?

A

As precipitation and condensation.

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17
Q

What’s percolation?

A

When water flows down through soil layers and underlying rock is pulled down by gravity.

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18
Q

What’s through flow?

A

Water that’s transferred through the soil.

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19
Q

What’s groundwater flow?

A

Where water reaches impermeable bedrock below ground and it flows over the surface of rock.

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20
Q

What are the two types of carbon cycles?

A

Fast
Slow

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21
Q

What’s the slow carbon cycle?

A

Carbon is stored in rocks, sea floor sediments and fossil fuels and is held in rocks for around 150 million years.

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22
Q

How is carbon stored in the slow carbon cycle?

A

CO2 is dissolved in oceans and is used by coral to make shells by fixing the dissolved carbon with calcium to form calcium carbonate.
Then converted into sedimentary rocks as become compressed at bottom of the ocean.

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23
Q

What are the two ways carbon is returned to the atmosphere from sedimentary rocks?

A

Tectonic activity
Chemical weathering

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24
Q

How does tectonic activity return carbon into the atmosphere from sedimentary rocks?

A

Subduction of carbon rich rock at ocean trenches can result in the venting of carbon to atmosphere during volcanic eruption.

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25
Q

How is carbon returned to the atmosphere from sedimentary rocks by chemical weathering?

A

Erosion/tectonic movement can expose rocks and weathering processes such as carbonation which releases CO2 to the atmosphere.

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26
Q

How does Phytoplankton absorb CO2?

A

Phytoplancton in oceans absorb CO2 for photosynthesis. Part of the fast carbon cycle

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27
Q

What is the fast carbon cycle?

A

The most rapid circulation of carbon between the atmosphere, oceans, living organisms and soils.

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28
Q

What is the water balance?

A

The balance between the inputs and outputs of a drainage basin system.

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29
Q

What is the water budget equation?

A

P=Q+E+OR-change in storage

P=precipitation
Q=runoff

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30
Q

Why will the water balance vary?

A

depends on the location and climate

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31
Q

What is the drainage basin system?

A

The drainage of water back into rivers, lakes, or oceans to be used again.

32
Q

Is the drainage basin system open or closed?

A

open

33
Q

What is stem flow?

A

Water falling down a tree trunk

34
Q

What is throughfall?

A

Water falling from tree to the floor.

35
Q

What is precipitation?

A

Any form of atmospheric moisture falling from clouds.

36
Q

What are example of precipitation?

A

snow, rain, sleet, hail

37
Q

How do clouds form?

A

When water vapour cools to its dew point.

38
Q

What is the dew point?

A

The critical temperature when the air becomes saturated and cannot hold anymore vapour, creates a change in state to water droplets.

39
Q

What are the 2 theories for how rain develops?

A

Collision theory
Bergeron-Findeisen theory

40
Q

What is the collision theory for the formation of rain?

A

In places where air is too warm for ice crystals precipitation occurs as tiny droplets collide into one another and stick together.

41
Q

What’s Bergeron-Findeinsen’s Theory for the development of rain?

A

It takes place when ice crystals form in high altitudes, growing gradually bigger.
The vapour pressure drops which allows the droplets to evaporate and become smaller ice crystals.
As become bigger and heavier they fall through warmer parts and rain occurs.

42
Q

What are the three types of rainfall?

A

Convectional
Relief
Frontal

43
Q

How does convectional rainfall occur?

A

The ground is heated to an extent where the air above it becomes warmer than the surroundings so expands and rises. It cools further as it rises and more clouds develop.

44
Q

What area is most commonly associated with convectional rainfall?

A

equatorial areas, where more intense insulation occurs.

45
Q

What type of clouds would we typically find with convectional rainfall?

A

cumulonimbus and often have thunderstorms

46
Q

How does relief rainfall occur?

A

Moist air if forces over a mountain and its ability to hold water vapour decreases, so rainfall occurs.

47
Q

What’s the rain shadow effect?

A

When the water vapour increases on the leeward side of the mountain so lower relief rainfall.

48
Q

How does frontal rainfall occur?

A

Occurs as a result of the meeting of two different air masses with different characteristics.
Less dense, warmer air if forced up above the cooler and steady rainfall occurs.

49
Q

What are the factors that are dependent as to whether rainfall occurs?

A

air rising and cooling
condensation- development of clouds
presence of moisture

50
Q

What are the factors of variation of rainfall?

A

Intensity
Duration
Seasonal variability

51
Q

What’s intensity of rainfall?

A

The amount of precipitation falling in a given time.

52
Q

What would be classed as high intensity precipitation?

A

10-15mm/hr

53
Q

What happens to rain when it reaches the ground?

A

Will flow into streams or rivers, where dome will be direct channel catch whilst others will infiltrate and travel by either throughflow or groundwater flow.

54
Q

What is transpiration?

A

The process by which moisture is lost in the form of water vapour to the atmosphere through the stomata of leaves.

55
Q

Where does water leave in a leaf?

A

stomata

56
Q

How much moisture in the atmosphere is from transpiration?

A

10%

57
Q

What factors affect transpiration?

A

Temperature
Wind speed
Relative humidity
Soil moisture levels

58
Q

How does temperature affect transpiration?

A

Temp increases so does transpiration

59
Q

How does wind speed affect transpiration?

A

increased wind around the plant increases transpiration

60
Q

How does the relative humidity affect transpiration?

A

More humid air means lower transpiration

61
Q

How does soil moisture levels affect transpiration?

A

Lack of moisture then less transpiration as leaf loss occurs

62
Q

What’s condensation?

A

The change from water vapour to liquid.
Occurs when air is cooled to dew point and air is saturated so condenses.

63
Q

What are 4 different types of clouds?

A

Cirrusform
cumuloform
stratiform
nimboform

64
Q

What are cirrusform clouds?

A

High level clouds that can look like curls of hair.

65
Q

What are cumuloform clouds?

A

They can look detatched, low level clouds.
Look like cotton balls.

66
Q

What are stratiform clouds?

A

Layer of cloud, low/middle of the atmosphere.

67
Q

What are nimboform clouds?

A

rain clouds

68
Q

What does it mean by stable air?

A

The clouds aren’t moving

69
Q

What does it mean by unstable air?

A

The clouds are moving

70
Q

What is dew?

A

condensed moisture forming as small drop on relatively cold surfaces

71
Q

When does dew occur?

A

occurs when the ground objects become cooler in comparison to the surrounding area and usually appears in the early morning or evening.

72
Q

What’s fog?

A

It’s a thick cloud close to the surface that reduces visibility.

73
Q

When does fog occur?

A

occurs when the air becomes too cold to hold its moisture

74
Q

What are the two processes for fog to occur?

A

cooling
evaporation

75
Q
A

Geography (7 decks)

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