L3 Flashcards
Movement of chemical elements
through different media, such as
the atmosphere, soil, rocks,
bodies of water, and organisms.
keeps essential elements
available to plants and other
organisms.
nutrient cycles
collects, purifies, and
distributes the earth’s
fixed supply of water
water cycle
conversion of
water from liquid to vapor
evaporation
rain, snow,
sleet, and dew
precipitation
90% of water
from the surfaces of plants
transpiration
overland
flow; portion of rainfall or
irrigation water (flows on
rivers, lakes, wetlands, and
oceans
surface runoff
fresh water located
beneath the earth‘s surface
groundwater
volume of below ground-
level, unconsolidated rock providing
a usable quantity of water
aquifers
depth below ground-
level at which the soil pores and
fractures and voids in the rocks
become completely saturated with
water
water table
second most abundant element in living organisms
carbon
weak acid that weathers rocks on Earth’s surface, releasing minerals and ions
• Calcium
• Bicarbonate
carbonic acid
used by corals and shellfish to build their shells and skeleton
• shells and skeleton of dead organisms settle on the ocean floor
calcium carbonate
Accumulation of sediments on the ocean floor
• layers get buried deeper; subjected
to intense pressure and temperature
burial and subduction
process that occurs when two tectonic plates meet at a convergent boundary and one plate slides beneath the other
subduction
Subducted carbonate rocks melt and release carbon dioxide
• released in the atmosphere through volcanic eruption
volcanic eruption
Process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide
carbon sequestration
involves the transformation and movement of nitrogen through Earth’s atmosphere, soil, and living organisms.
nitrogen cycle
abundant in the atmosphere
• enters the biosphere via free-living and symbiotic bacteria
nitrogen
NITROGEN CYCLE
- Nitrogen fixation
- Nitrification
- Assimilation
- Ammonification
- Denitrification
• Atmospheric nitrogen gas (N2) converted into ammonia (NH3) or nitrate (NO3-) by nitrogen-fixing bacteria
• occur in soil or in root nodules of certain plants
nitrogen fixation
ammonia is converted into nitrite
(NO2-) and then into nitrate by nitrifying bacteria
nitrification
form readily absorbed by plants
nitrate
• plants absorbed nitrate and incorporate into organic compounds
• protein
• nucleic acid
• animals obtain nitrogen by consuming plants or other animals
assimilation
• organic nitrogen from organism’s waste and excretions are broken down into ammonia by decomposers in the soil.
ammonification
bactera convert nitrate back into nitrogen gas, which is released into the atmosphere, completing the cycle
Denitrification
