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Physical Geography > Water and Carbon > Flashcards

Water and Carbon Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the general water stores?

A

Cryosphere, Atmosphere, Lithosphere and hydrosphere

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2
Q

How much of global water is held in the Oceans?

A

97%

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3
Q

What is a negative feedback mechanism?

A

An event that eventually stabilises itself at a new level.

E.g More carbon in the atmosphere, plants sequester more carbon + therefore photosynthesise more.

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4
Q

What is the Milankovitch Cycle?

A

The changes that earth’s orbit + movement has on the climate.

(97% of scientists discredit this theory as there is no precise data to demonstrate this)

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5
Q

What are the general stores of Carbon?

A

Hydrosphere, Biosphere, Lithosphere and Atmosphere

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6
Q

What is a positive feedback mechanism?

A

The change made in a store is amplified.

Eg. The Albedo effect

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7
Q

What is the Albedo effect?

A

Increased global warming effect, melts snow and ice therefore the light and heat is not reflected but absorbed into the earth’s core warming the earth further.

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8
Q

What is dynamic equilibrium?

A

This is when inputs and outputs are the same, and in balance.

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9
Q

Explain carbon sequestration

A

The process of removing carbon from the atmosphere

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10
Q

explain photosynthesis

A

this is when plants sequester CO2 and produce oxygen

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11
Q

What are the main flows within the water cycle?

A

Surface Runoff
Infiltration
Percolation
Groundwater
Channel Flow

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12
Q

What the main transfers in the Water Cycle?

A

Evapo-transpiration
Condensation
Precipitation
Cyrosphenic Processes

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13
Q

What are the main fluxes of the Carbon cycle?

A

Combustion
Burial compaction
decomposition
Respiration
photosynthesis
Ocean Sequestration

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14
Q

What is the Water Balance Equation?

A

Precipitation= Runoff+ Evapotranspiration + Total change in storage

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15
Q

What is Groundwater flow?

A

The movement of water through underlying permeable rock.

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16
Q

How do clouds form?

A

When water condenses onto dust particles they create condensation nuclei. When they combine they become too heavy, and creat precipitation.

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17
Q

What are the Two types of rainfall?

A

Convectional- Hot air rises, cools and condenses and then causes heavy rainfall.
Relief- Occurs over high altitude land, same process.

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18
Q

What is Bergeron Findesine Theory?

A

Ice crystals grow within the clouds, it occurs in regions where ambient vapour pressure drops.

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19
Q

Give two natural factors affecting hydrographs.

A

Seasonal changes
- Less interception, with trees without leaves in winter
- Dryer periods across the summer with a warmer climate.

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20
Q

Give three human factors affecting hydrographs.

A

Changes in land use (urbanisation)
Farming practises (different plants have different infiltrations)
Irrigation (abstracting water kills the soil)

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21
Q

How much carbon is stored in the biosphere?

A

60 GT, particularly in soil

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22
Q

How much carbon is stored in the hydrosphere?

A

700 Gt, in the oceans

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23
Q

What is an aquifer?

A

An underground layer of water, below permeable rock.

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24
Q

How do clouds form?

A

Moist air cools, usually by convection.
This can occur when cold air mass, meets a warm air mass forcing it to rise above it. Cooling and condensing into a cloud.

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25
Q

What is interception?

A

The movement of water through the surface into the biosphere, to be used by plants and hydrating the soil.

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26
Q

What is percolation?

A

The process of water draining into semi-permeable rock. Moving from the surface into the lithosphere.

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27
Q

What is overland flow?

A

Water that moves across the land after precipitation, can be flood water. It flows downhill when soil is over saturated or under saturated.

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28
Q

What is Channel flow?

A

The flow of water within a river channel, known as the rivers discharge.

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29
Q

What is groundwater?

A

The flow of water within the lithosphere. Usually through permeable rock, that lies below the water table.

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30
Q

What is the water table?

A

An underground boundary between the soil surface and the area where groundwater saturates the ground and lower lying cracked rocks.

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31
Q

What is the concept of water balance?

A

It looks at the amount of precipitation compared to the water leaving the system.

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32
Q

What are the main causes of precipitation?

A

When water vapour condenses into bigger droplets, the forces of gravity begin to act upon the water droplets, bringing them to earth.

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33
Q

What is stem flow?

A

The flow of intercepted water down the stem of a plant or tree. This allows the water to travel towards the roots of the plant, where the water and nutrients can be taken into the plant.

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34
Q

what is the difference between a closed and open system?

A

One allows for new inputs to flow through the system and out, whereas the other nothing leaves or enters.

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35
Q

Factors affecting water on a hill slope.

A

Urbanisation- harder to infiltrate
Storms- heavy rainfall saturates the ground, creating higher surface runoff
Deforestation- removing trees means less interception, causing the soil to be over- saturated
Farming practises- ditches drain the land, encouraging water to flow quickly to rivers.

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36
Q

What causes variations in runoff?

A

The type of rock located near a river.
The relief of the land.
The type of vegetation located on the land.

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37
Q

What is discharge?

A

Discharge= cross sectional area x velocity

38
Q

What creates a steep hydrograph, with a short lag time?

A

Smaller drainage basin size
High density speeds up water flows
Impermeable rocks encourage higher surface runoff
Overly saturated soil
Urbanisation
Heavy rainfall, leading to high surface runoff

39
Q

What are Human factors affecting the water cycle?

A

The changes in land use- urban and deforesting
Farming practices- can lead to desertification
Water extraction- taken from aquifers for farming, but not managed sustainably.

40
Q

What has climate change done to affect the water cycle?

A

Caused a polarisation of seasons, meaning summers are much dryer and hot but the winters are very wet and cold.

41
Q

What is a flood hydrograph?

A

demonstrates how a drainage basin responds to a period of precipitation.

42
Q

What is river discharge?

A

The volume of water travelling through a rivers channel.

43
Q

What is the Carbon budget?

A

The estimated amount of carbon that can be stored and transferred within the carbon cycle.

44
Q

How large is the carbon budget?

A

1,000 Pgc of Carbon.

45
Q

What type of system is the Carbon cycle?

A

Closed system.

46
Q

What human factors can affect the water cycle?

A

Land use changes
Farming practises.
Water abstraction- irrigation.

47
Q

How does urbanisation impact the water cycle?

A

Increases surface runoff,

48
Q

What impact does Land use change have upon the water cycle?

A

Urbanisation replaces vegetation with concrete and tarmac, impermeable surfaces. This makes overland flow more likely.
Deforestation removes tree cover reducing the rate of interception and increasing surface runoff. Reduces water soil stores.

49
Q

What impact do farming practises have upon the water cycle?

A

Farmers are able to control their local water cycle, through irrigation systems. Soils covered with plants, have higher infiltration rates.

50
Q

What is the issue with water abstraction?

A

Most farmers tap into aquifers for irrigation. This can mean that they are not monitored sufficiently, and can easily deplete.
Can also contaminate the Aquifers, which then can then prevent flow into rivers having harmful impacts upon the ecosystems downstream.

51
Q

What is a Carbon Sink?

A

A store that absorbs more carbon than it produces.

52
Q

What is a Carbon source?

A

A store that releases more carbon than it absorbs.

53
Q

What is the global patterns of the carbon cycle?

A

Carbon uptake is increasing in the middle and higher latitudes in the northern hemisphere.
Carbon absorption has decreased in the tropics and southern hemisphere.

54
Q

How does the carbon cycle operate within a Tree?

A

The plant uses photosynthesis to create food and energy for itself.
Through this process, a small amount of CO2 is released as the plant respires.
Carbon is the captured within the tree, along with a small amount of transfer into the biosphere.

55
Q

What is the process of respiration?

A

Glucose is converted into energy to grow and repair. Carbon Dioxide is then returned into the atmosphere through exhaled air.

56
Q

What is decomposition?

A

When organisms die, they they are consumed by decomposers such as bacteria, fungi and earthworms. During this process, carbon from the organism is returned to the atmosphere.
Some carbon can also be captured within the soil.

57
Q

What is the process of combustion?

A

The burning of organic material, that produces both energy and CO2. This means that carbon is transferred to the atmosphere.

58
Q

What is weathering?

A

The breakdown or decay of rocks in situ. When carbon is absorbed by rain, creates acidic rain. This is through chemical reactions with the rocks.

59
Q

What is burial and compaction?

A

The process of burying organic matter meaning that it becomes compacted, which in turn creates hydrocarbons such as coal and oil.

60
Q

How is limestone formed?

A

Coral and shelled organisms take in small amounts of carbon, when they die the shells collect on the sea bed.
Some of the carbonate dissolve, with the rest compacting to create limestone.

61
Q

What are the physical causes of changes in the carbon cycle?

A

Higher levels of carbon dioxide lead to higher global temperatures. However, higher temperature levels have an impact upon the amount of carbon dioxide.

62
Q

What do cold temperatures do for the carbon cycle?

A

Chemical weathering are more prominent as cold water can hold more CO2.
The distribution of forest cover would be different, both in location and surface area.
Decomposers are less active, meaning that soil transfers would decrease.
Less water transfers downstream, meaning that more carbon is stored in the cryosphere.
Soil may freeze, locking in carbon to the biosphere.

63
Q

How can wildfires impact the carbon cycle?

A

With increasing temperatures, wildfire conditions are increasingly regular. With rising occurrence, more CO2 is released into the atmosphere adding to global emissions.
This can turn forests from carbon sinks to carbon sources, due to high levels of combustion.

64
Q

What is the impact of warm conditions upon the carbon cycle?

A

Carbon and Methane, stored within the cryosphere, can be released into the atmosphere. Creating a positive feedback mechanism.
Thermal expansion- means that less carbon can be sequestered by the hydrosphere as larger water particles can’t contain the same amount of carbon.

65
Q

What impact can volcanic activity have upon the carbon cycle?

A

During an eruption, carbon that had been stored in the lithosphere for millions of years is returned to the atmosphere.

66
Q

What impact can volcanic activity have upon the carbon cycle?

A

During an eruption, carbon that had been stored in the lithosphere for millions of years is returned to the atmosphere.
Lava contains silicates, that slowly weather over time, which converts CO2 into carbonates in solution meaning carbon is very slowly sequestered.

67
Q

How much carbon do volcanoes emit each year?

A

130 million tonnes.

68
Q

How much of human related carbon comes from fossil fuels?

A

90%

69
Q

What impact does hydrocarbon combustion have upon the carbon cycle?

A

Increase the transfers to the atmosphere and increase the greenhouse effect, which in turn enhances global warming.

70
Q

What impact do farming practises have upon the carbon cycle?

A

Use of machinery, such as tractors, emit pollutants along with the use of fertilisers.
Cattle emit large amounts of the potent methane, which enhances the greenhouse effect as methane can hold more heat than CO2.
Rice cultivation emits methane, however rice as staple food means that this is unlikely to change.

71
Q

How much of USA emissions come from cattle?

A

20%

72
Q

What are the issues surrounding deforestation?

A

When a tree naturally decomposes it does so over a long period time, meaning that new vegetation grows at the same time, making it a carbon neutral process.
When a tree is burnt, the carbon is released instantly.
Often the land is then used for a different purpose such as cattle ranching, meaning future carbon is not sequestered at the same rate.

73
Q

What impact does urbanisation have on the carbon cycle?

A

Transportation, cement production, industry growth and conversion of land.
CO2 is a by-product of the chemical conversion to create cement, and also created when petrol is combusted.

74
Q

How much does cement pollute in a year?

A

2.4%

75
Q

What are anthropogenic activities?

A

Pollution due to human activities.

76
Q

What are the impacts of carbon on land?

A

It aids the development of soil, organic matter introduces important nutrients into soil.
Carbon in the form of organic matter is essential in plant growth.
Caron that is stored in grass, provides fodder for animals.
Carbon provides a source of energy in the form of wood and fossil fuels.

77
Q

What are the impacts of carbon on water?

A

Carbon can be turned into calcium carbonate, which is used to create shells by organisms.
Carbon is a main source of food for many marine organisms. During photosynthesis, phytoplankton use CO2, which is then passed along the food chain.

78
Q

What are the impacts of carbon on the atmosphere?

A

CO2 helps to warm the earth, through the greenhouse effect. Without this life on earth would not exist.
Human activity has accelerated the greenhouse effect, which is damaging the climate.
Carbon stored within vegetation has a significant impact upon the atmosphere, due to both deforestation and afforestation.

79
Q

What is the role of trees in supporting life on earth?

A

Leaves and wood, contain carbon which is then passed down the food chain which gives energy to many organisms. This is then returned to the atmosphere when the animals respire.

80
Q

What is a feedback?

A

the return or knock-on effect, that leads to a change within a system.

81
Q

What type of feedback is ice melting?

A

Positive.

82
Q

What is the issue presented by ice melting?

A

Ice reflects heat (Albedo effect), due to warmer temperatures ice is now melting and now reflecting less heat. This then continues to melt the ice across the globe.
Lots of melted ice can present issues for global trade routes.
This could affect patterns of precipitation and the availability of freshwater.

83
Q

What are the two impacts of warmer arctic temperatures on the carbon cycle?

A

Increased the season for growing plants, meaning higher carbon sequestration.
Permafrost is melting at a faster rate, meaning organic matter that is stored within the permafrost will begin to release carbon.
Currently there is more carbon stored in permafrost than the atmosphere.

84
Q

What type of feedback is melting permafrost?

A

Positive.

85
Q

What type of feedback is thermal expansion?

A

Negative.

86
Q

How does carbon capture work?

A

Captures coal emissions, and then transfers the carbon to a site where it is stored and prevented from entering the atmosphere.

87
Q

How can humans modify photosynthesis?

A

Plantation forests are comprised of human planted trees, as an effective way of removing carbon from the atmosphere. This is a form of afforestation.

88
Q

How is deforestation modified by humans?

A

Consumers are encouraged to only buy wood from the FSC, and sustainable companies.
Carbon offset payments, pay for woodlands to be protected and developing renewable energy.
Selective logging means that only certain trees are felled, and new ones are planted to replace them.

89
Q

What did the Paris Climate agreement aim to do?

A

Limit global temperature below 1.5 degrees.
Provide support for the developing countries to adapt.
Meet every 5 years to assess progress.

90
Q

What are the main characteristics of rainforests?

A

High average rainfall
Humid temperatures.
Large amounts of biodiversity.
Carbon Sink.

91
Q

What are the relationships between the water and carbon cycle?

A

Evaporation from the hydrosphere creates precipitation.
Water vapour creates 50% of the greenhouse effect.
Creates clouds, which can store water.

Physical Geography (4 decks)

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