Earth Systems Flashcards
Atmosphere
The gases that are surrounding the earth.
Abiotic
The non-living things in a ecosystem
What are gases that make up the earths atmosphere
78% nitrogen
21% oxygen
0.94% argon
0.04% greenhouse gases
Layers of the atmosphere
- Troposphere
- Stratosphere
- Mesosphere
- Thermosphere
What is Troposphere composed of
Nitrogen, Oxygen, Argon and carbon dioxide
What is the Stratosphere composed of
Composed of ozone
What is the mesosphere composed of
where metors are found
What is the thermosphere composed of
where satellites and space shuttles are found.
What is Salinty
Rate/amount of salt
What is ground water
Water present underneath earth’s surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations
Water vapour
- Gas form of water
- Most visible as clouds and fog
- Most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere
Liquid water
- 4 billion years ago, Earths temperature decreased
- Decrease in temperature caused water vapour in atmosphere to become liquid – forming oceans on earths surface.
- Can be freshwater or saltwater (marine)
- Found as oceans, rivers, lakes and groundwater
Ice
- Solid form of water
- Has its own name – The Cryosphere
- Includes glaciers, ice caps and icebergs.
- Literally anything made from ice
Abiotic factors in the hydrosphere
- Dissolved oxygen concentration
- pH level
- Water temperature
- Turbidity (particles in water)
- Availability of sunlight.
- Nutrient concentration
- Rate of water flow
- Salinity (Rate/amount of salt)
The Biosphere
Sum of all ecosystems on Earth
Made up of the parts of earth where life exists
Can be found within all other Earth spheres
Biotic
Living things within an ecosystem
Crust
20 to 80 kilometers thick
Made up of valleys trenches, mountains and volcanos.
Composed of tectonic plates
Cryosphere
Greenhouse gas
Tectonic plate
Large sections of the earths crust that shifts over time
Molten rocks in upper mantle flows, moving plates slowly
this has changed land masses over millions of years.
Upper mantle
Extends from below the crust to 410 km towards the earths core
Composed of mostly silicon, oxygen, magnesium, and iron.
mostly molten and flowing.
The lithosphere
The solid, outer part of the Earth, including the crust and upper mantle
Food chain
Food chains are the movement of energy throughout an ecosystem from who gets eaten and whose the eater
Food web
A graph of showing who is actually eating who and how it comes full circle
Herbivore
Only eat plants
Carnivore
Only eat meat
Omnivore
Eats both plants and meat
Producer
Producers make their own energy, they don’t have to eat anything to gain energy
Tertiary consumers
Tertiary consumers eat the secondary consumers, this is sometimes the apex predator.
Primary consumer
Primary consumers are the animals that eat the producers, most the time herbivores
Decomposer
Decomposers break down dead or decaying matter
Consumer
Consumers eat other organisims
Trophic level
1st level is the producer
2nd level is the primary consumers
3rd level is the secondary consumer
4th is the apex predator
Quaternary consumers
Quaternary consumers eat the tertiary consumers, this is usually the apex predator
Secondary consumers
Secondary consumers eat the primary consumers
