Elemental cycles Flashcards
Hydrologic cycle
moves water around
Evaporation
Heat from the sun causes water to evaporate from bodies of water and soil
Transpiration
Photosynthesis releases water from leaves
Precipitation
Water vapor cools and forms clouds and rains
Percolation
Water moving between soil particles to groundwater
Runoff
Water can travel to bodies of water
Why is the hydrologic cycle important?
It can move many nutrients through the water
Carbon cycle
the movement of carbon through the biosphere
Photosynthesis
Producers take in carbon and spit out oxygen
Respiration
Animals take in oxygen and spit out carbon
Exchange
Carbon is exchanged from the atmosphere to the water
Sedimentation
Carbon will combine with calcium ions from the ocean and form CaCO3 that turns into rock
Burial
Organisms that havent fully decomposed will be trapped inside rock and be fossilized
Combustion
Volcanoes or burning of fossil fuels releases CO2
Extraction
Humans dig for fossil fuels
Nitrogen cycle
the movement of nitrogen throughout the biosphere
Nitrogen fixation
Nitrogen gas is converted into ammonia, which is usable nitrogen
Abiotic fixation
Lightening
Biotic fixation
Bacteria that live in legume roots or cyanobacteria can convert nitrogen gas into ammonia
Nitrification
Conversion of ammonium to nitrate
Assimilation
Producers incorporate nitrogen and nitrogen compounds into their tissue
Mineralization
Converting organic nitrogenous material (dead stuff) into inorganic nitrogenous material (ammonium). Producers take up ammonium or ammonium goes through nitrification
Denitrification
The conversion of nitrate to nitrogen gas through anaerobic bacteria
Phosphorous cycle
The movement of phosphorous throughout the biosphere
Assimilzation
Producers take up phosphate and incorporate it into their tissues
Mineralization
When producers die, organic phosphorous turns into inorganic phosphate
Sedimentation
Phosphorous is a precipitate of water that comes out as phosphate sediments
Geologic uplift
Phosphate sediments can be risen by geologic forces into mountains
Weathering
Mountains go through weathering and phosphorous is drained into soil
Where is phosphate found?
In fertilizer
Algal bloom
is the result of leaching of phosphate from fertilizer into bodies of water, causes a lot of algae to bloom which takes up a lot of oxygen
Hypoxic
Too little oxygen
Dead zone
hypoxic water results in animals not being able to sustain and then they all die
Sulfur cycle
The movement of sulfur throughout the biosphere
Weathering
Sulfur exists in rocks and goes through weathering, which causes sulfur to leach into soil
Acid rain
too much sulfur in water
