OCR A Level ELSS - 3. OCR A Level ELSS 4.1 Water and Carbon Cycle - Physical, Human and located Pathways 2 Flashcards
Cloud formation
Creation of floating ice crystals or water droplets in the atmosphere, caused by rising moist air cooling at higher altitude and condensing
Catchment Hydrology
Water studies within a drainage basin
What is Permeable/Porous Rock?
Stone with lots of connected pore spaces, allowing the movement of water through it
What is a Drainage Basin?
The area of land where water and melted ice flows into a lake, sea or river
What is Relief?
The slope of the land - the steeper the slope, the faster the runoff, and the less time there is for infiltration to occur
What is Afforestation?
Planting trees in an area where there haven’t been trees before, removing CO2 from the atmosphere which is now locked within the trees’ biomass
Tropical Rainforest
Dense, multilayered woodland biome located up to 10degrees from the equator, where primary production is high and biodiversity correspondingly so
Tundra
Dry, high-latitude regions where the ground may be snow-free, but is frozen all year round. Northern Canada and Siberia are areas of this type
Negative Feedback
A cycle that returns a system back to its normal (equilibrium) state.
Positive Feedback
A ‘runaway’ system loop where the system moves further and further from equilibrium
Dynamic Equilibrium
A system with continuous inputs, throughputs, outputs and variable stores that fluctuates from year to year but, in the long term retains stability.
Artesian Basin
Pressurised groundwater found where permeable rock is overlain by impermeable rock, trapping water below, which entered at a higher elevation
Diurnal
Changes in the temperature between day and night - warmer during the day and coolest during the night
Seasonal Change
Alteration of the weather, temperature and precipitation throughout the year, as a result of the Earth’s tilt
Long Term
Time period spanning millions of years, for example
