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The water and carbon cycle - Physical Geography > Key definitions > Flashcards

Key definitions Flashcards

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1
Q

What is Acidification?

A

The gradual reduction of pH of the oceans, due to dissolving carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

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2
Q

What is Afforestation?

A

Planting trees and vegetation in the aim of increasing forest cover.

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3
Q

What is an Anticyclone?

A

A system of high pressure, causing high temperatures and unseasonably high evaporation rates.

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4
Q

What is an Aquifer?

A

A permeable or porous rock which stores water.

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5
Q

What is Biofuel?

A

Burning crops and vegetation for electricity and heat.

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6
Q

What is Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS)?

A

The capture of carbon dioxide emissions directly from the factory, pumped into disused mines rather than being released into the atmosphere.

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7
Q

What are Carbon Fluxes?

A

The movement of carbon between stores.

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8
Q

What does Carbon Neutral mean?

A

A process that has no net addition of carbon dioxide to the environment.

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9
Q

What are Carbon Stores?

A

Places where carbon accumulates for a period of time such as rocks and plant matter.

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10
Q

What is Channel Flow?

A

Water flowing in a rivulet, stream or river.

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11
Q

What are Choke Points?

A

Points in the logistics of energy and fuel that are prone to restriction.

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12
Q

What is Combustion?

A

The process of burning a substance, in the presence of oxygen, to release energy.

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13
Q

What is Convectional Precipitation?

A

Solar radiation heats the air above the ground,

causing it to rise, cool & condense forming precipitation (often as thunderstorms).

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14
Q

What is the Cryosphere?

A

The global water volume locked up within a frozen state (i.e. snow and ice).

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15
Q

What is Decomposition?

A

The break down of matter, often by a decomposer which releases carbon dioxide through their own respiration.

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16
Q

What is a Depression?

A

A system of low pressure, with fronts of precipitation where low and high pressure air masses meet.

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17
Q

What is a Desalination Plant?

A

The conversion of seawater to freshwater, suitable for human consumption.

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18
Q

What is Desublimation?

A

The change of state of water from gas to solid, without being a liquid (the opposite process to sublimation).

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19
Q

What is a Drainage Basin?

A

The area of land drained by a river and its tributaries.

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20
Q

What is Drainage Density?

A

The total length of all rivers & streams divided by the area of the drainage basin.

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21
Q

What is a Drought?

A

An extended period of deficient rainfall relative to the statistical average for the region (UN).

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22
Q

What is Economic Water Scarcity?

A

When water resources are available but insufficient

economic wealth limits access to it.

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23
Q

What is the Energy Mix?

A

The composition of a country’s energy sources.

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24
Q

What is Energy Security?

A

The ownership and full control of a country’s energy source, production and transportation.

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25
Q

What is an Energy Pathway?

A

The movement of energy from its extraction or source, through pipes, freight logistics or cabling.

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26
Q

What are Energy Players?

A

Key companies and individuals who own, distribute and sell energy and energy sources.

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27
Q

What is the Enhanced Greenhouse Effect ?

A

The build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, reducing the amount of solar radiation reflected into space.

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28
Q

What are ENSO Cycles?

A

El Niño Southern Oscillations - naturally occurring phenomena that involves the movement of warm water in the Equatorial Pacific.

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29
Q

What is Evapotranspiration?

A

The combined total moisture transferred from the Earth to the atmosphere, through evaporation and transpiration.

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30
Q

What is Frontal Precipitation?

A

Where air masses of different temperatures meet at a front, one mass will be forced over another, causing precipitation beneath the front.

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31
Q

What is the Global Hydrological Cycle?

A

The continuous transfer of water between land,

atmosphere and oceans. The Earth is a closed system.

32
Q

What is Groundwater Flow?

A

Water moving horizontally through permeable or porous rock due to gravity.

33
Q

What is a Hydrological Drought?

A

Insufficient soil moisture to meet the needs of vegetation (crops, trees, plants) at a particular time.

34
Q

What is Infiltration?

A

The movement of water vertically through the pores in soil.

35
Q

What is Integrated Drainage Basin Management?

A

Establishing a frame of coordinated efforts between administrations (e.g. local government) and stakeholders (e.g businesses) to achieve balanced management of a basin (World Bank).

36
Q

What is Inorganic Carbon?

A

Carbon stored in carbonated rocks.

37
Q

What is Interception?

A

Raindrops are prevented from falling directly onto the ground, instead hitting the leaves of a tree.

38
Q

What is a Meteorological Drought?

A

When long-term precipitation trends are below average.

39
Q

What is a Monsoon?

A

The drastic variation between wet and dry seasons for sub-tropical areas, caused by a changed prevailing wind. Can lead to annual flooding.

40
Q

What is Non-Renewable?

A

A source of energy that can only be used once to generate electricity or takes thousands of years to replace e.g. Fossil Fuels.

41
Q

What is Nuclear Fusion?

A

The process of joining atomic nuclei together, to produce energy.

42
Q

What are OPEC?

A

Oil and Petroleum exporting countries. An organisation that supports and coordinates fossil fuel exporting countries.

43
Q

What is an Open System?

A

A system affected by external flows and inputs (such as a drainage basin, or a sediment cell).

44
Q

What is Organic Carbon?

A

Carbon stored in plant material and living organisms.

45
Q

What is Outgassing?

A

The release of dissolved carbon dioxide (e.g. at plate boundaries, warming the oceans).

46
Q

What is Percolation?

A

Water moving vertically from soil into permeable rock.

47
Q

What is Photosynthesis?

A

The process of converting carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen. All plants and some organisms rely on this process to survive.

48
Q

What is Physical Water Scarcity?

A

A physical lack of available freshwater which cannot

meet demand.

49
Q

What is Phytoplankton?

A

Small organisms that rely on photosynthesis to survive, so intake carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

50
Q

What is Primary Energy?

A

The initial source of energy, as it is naturally found. This could be natural ores, water, crops or radioactive material.

51
Q

What is Relief Precipitation?

A

Precipitation caused when air masses are forced to rise over high land, determined by the relief/ morphology of the land.

52
Q

What does Renewable mean?

A

Primary energy that can be re-used to produce electricity or has a short lifetime, therefore any used can be replaced quickly e.g. Hydroelectric,
biomass, solar.

-Renewable energy comes from sources that are replenished naturally, such as the sun and wind.

53
Q

What is Respiration?

A

The process of converting glucose and oxygen into carbon dioxide and energy. Some organisms rely on respiration to survive.

54
Q

What is a River Regime?

A

The pattern of river discharge over a year.

55
Q

What is Runoff?

A

Water flowing over the surface of the ground eg. after precipitation or snowmelt.

56
Q

What is Salinisation?

A

Where salt water contaminates freshwater stores or soils, creating saline conditions and reducing human use/ consumption.

57
Q

What is Saltwater Encroachment?

A

The movement of saltwater into freshwater aquifers or

soils. This may be caused by sea level rise, storm surges or over-extraction.

58
Q

What is Secondary Energy?

A

The product of primary energy, mostly electricity.

59
Q

What is Sequestration?

A

The transfer of carbon from the atmosphere to stores elsewhere - living biosphere, inorganic rocks, etc.

60
Q

What is Smart Irrigation?

A

Providing crops with a water supply less than optimal, to make crops resistant to water shortages.

61
Q

What is a Storm Hydrograph?

A

Variation of river discharge over a short period of time (days).

62
Q

What is Sublimation?

A

The change of state of water from solid to a gas, without being a liquid.

63
Q

What is Thermohaline Circulation?

A

The movement of volumes of seawater from cold deep

water to warm water surface water.

64
Q

What is Throughflow?

A

Water moving horizontally through the soil, due to gravity.

65
Q

What is the Tipping Point?

A

A critical threshold where any changes to a system after the tipping point are irreversible.

66
Q

What is Transpiration?

A

The process through which water evaporates through the stomata in plants’ leaves.

67
Q

What is Urbanisation?

A

The growth of populations in towns and cities.

68
Q

What is the Water Budget?

A

The annual balance between inputs and outputs within a system.

69
Q

What is Water Conservation?

A

Strategies to reduce water usage and demand.

70
Q

What is Water Recycling?

A

The treatment and purification of waste water, to increase supply.

71
Q

What is Water Scarcity?

A

There are limited renewable water sources (between 500 and 1000 cubic metres per capita per year).

72
Q

What is Water Security?

A

The ability to protect and access a sustainable source to adequately meet demand.

73
Q

What is the Water Sharing Treaty?

A

International agreements for transboundary sources (river that crosses at least one political border).

74
Q

What is Water Transfer?

A

Hard engineering projects, such as pipelines or aqueducts, that divert water between basins to meet demand.

75
Q

What is a Watershed?

A

The boundary between neighbouring drainage basins.

The water and carbon cycle - Physical Geography (1 decks)

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