Unit 3 MA Study Flashcards
What is condensation?
When water vapor cools down and condenses together, forming water droplets. It commonly occurs on dust particles, which causes cloud formation.
What is evaporation?
When water heats up and turns into water vapor. It usually happens on water body surfaces.
What is sublimation?
The process by which ice or snow turns directly into water vapor, occurring in cold and dry conditions.
An example of this is dry ice turning directly into CO2.
What is the water cycle?
The process of transporting water throughout ecosystems and its many states.
What is transpiration?
How water is released through plant leaves.
What is precipitation?
When clouds get too heavy and release water in a liquid form, also can be released through snow, sleet, or hail.
What is run off?
How water falls from mountains (melted snow or after precipitation) and lands on the surface, eventually falling into other bodies of water.
What is an aquifer?
Underground source of water, usually made of rock, sand, and gravel, storing and transmitting groundwater.
What are biogeochemical cycles?
A set of cycles that transport different matter throughout living and geological environments.
What is the carbon cycle?
The cycle that transports carbon throughout ecosystems. Processes include combustion, photosynthesis, and decomposition. Main reservoirs include the atmosphere, oceans, and land.
What is the nitrogen cycle?
The cycle that transports nitrogen throughout ecosystems. Processes include nitrogen fixation, assimilation, decomposition, ammonification, denitrification, and nitrification.
What is the phosphorus cycle?
The cycle that transports phosphorus throughout ecosystems. Processes include weathering, mineralization, and leaching. Reservoirs include rocks and soils.
Eutrophication is also something that occurs in the cycle, but only happens if there is excess phosphorus in bodies of water.
What is a reservoir?
A body/location that stores a substance. A natural storage for elements where a substance accumulates.
What are processes in biogeochemical cycles?
Actions that do something, act as pathways through which elements move between organisms.
What is nitrogen fixation?
The process of atmospheric nitrogen gas being converted into ammonia/ammonium. It can happen biotically (via certain bacteria) and abiotically (through lightning or industrial processes).
