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geography > water and carbon cycle > Flashcards

water and carbon cycle Flashcards

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1
Q

what is the definition of a closed system?

A

a system in which the amount of matter remains constant, but in which energy and matter can be transferred as an input, output or flow

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2
Q

what is the definition of an open system?

A

a system in which energy and matter can be transferred in, through and out (beyond the boundary of the system).

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3
Q

what is input?

A

energy and/or matter entering a system

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4
Q

what is output?

A

energy and/or matter leaving a system

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5
Q

what is a store/ component?

A

a section of the system in which matter can remain, be added to or removed from.

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6
Q

what is the definition of a flow/transfer?

A

movement between stores/components in a system

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7
Q

what is a boundary?

A

the edge of a particular system

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8
Q

what is positive feedback?

A

occurs within a system where a change causes a further or snowball effect, continuing or even further accelerating the original change; the affects amplified

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9
Q

what is negative feedback?

A

original change is reduced or reversed

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10
Q

what is atmospheric water?

A

water found in the atmosphere; mainly water vapour with some liquid water (clouds and rain droplets) and ice crystals

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11
Q

what is the cryosphere?

A

water locked up on the earths surface as ice

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12
Q

what is the hydrosphere?

A

a discontinuous layer of water at or near the earths surface. it includes all liquid and frozen surface waters, groundwater held in soil and rock and atmospheric water vapours

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13
Q

what is oceanic water?

A

the water contained in the earths oceans and seas but not including inland seas such as the caspian sea

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14
Q

what is terrestrial water?

A

this consists of groundwater,soil moistiure, lakes, wetlands and rivers

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15
Q

what are the 4 major water stores?

A

-lithosphere
-atmosphere
-hydrosphere
-cryosphere

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16
Q

how much ocean water is there?

A

covers 72% of the earths surface

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17
Q

how much of the earths water is in the oceanic water stores?

A

97%

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18
Q

what are the types of terestrial water stores?

A

-surface water
-groundwater
-soil water
-biological water

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19
Q

what is surface water?

A

is the free flowing water of rivers as well as lakes

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20
Q

what is groundwater?

A

water that collects underground in the pore spaces of a rock

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21
Q

what is soil water?

A

water that is stored in the soil and is available for growing crops

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22
Q

what is biological water?

A

all of the water stored in plant and animal matter

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23
Q

how long does water stay in deep ground water stores?

A

10 000 years

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24
Q

how long does water stay in shallow groundwater stores?

A

100-200 years

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25
Q

how long does water stay in lakes?

A

50-100 years

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26
Q

how long does water stay in glaciers

A

20-100 years

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27
Q

how long does water stay in seasonal snow cover?

A

2-6 months

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28
Q

how long does water stay in rivers?

A

2-6 months

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29
Q

how long does water stay in soil water stores?

A

1-2 months

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30
Q

what states does water exist in?

A

-solid ice
-liquid water
-gas (water vapour)

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31
Q

what state does atmopsheric water usally exist in?

A

gas

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32
Q

what is sublimation?

A

water changes directly from solid into gas without becoming liquid

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33
Q

what is deposition?

A

where gas turns into solid without becoming liquid

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34
Q

what is latent heat?

A

when water is evaporated it changes its state from a liquid to a gas. this needs energy called latent heat to be extracted from the environment causing a drop in temperature

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35
Q

what does the ITCZ stand for?

A

intertropical convergance zone

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36
Q

what kind of weather do you get in the ITCZ?

A

rain and high temperatures

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37
Q

what is accumlation?

A

the build-up of a glacier due to snow being compacted into ice

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38
Q

what is ablation?

A

the melting of the ice, mainly during summer months, and usually at the snout end of the glacier

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39
Q

what is the most recent glacial period known as?

A

the quaternery glaciation

40
Q

what are glacial periods?

A

when due to the volume of ice on land sea levels was about 120m lower than currently

41
Q

what are interglacial periods?

A

when global ablation exceeds accumulation and the hydrological cycle as we know it today returns

42
Q

what is the formation of rain?

A

-clouds are made up of tiny water droplets
-the water dropeltsgrow and become too heavy and so they fall through the clouds

43
Q

how does drizzle form?

A

-cloud must be fairly low to the ground

44
Q

how does snow form?

A

-forms when tiny ice crystals in clouds stick together to become snowflakes
-and they become heavy enough to fall to the ground

45
Q

how does sleet form?

A

frozen rain that partially melts as it falls

46
Q

how is hail formed?

A

-forms in thundercloud when drops of water are continuoiusly taken up and down
-when they get really big the updraughts in the cloud cant hold them anymore

47
Q

how is dew formed?

A

-forms when the temperature of a surface cools down to a temperature that is cooler than the dew point of air next to it
-the water condenses

48
Q

how does frost form?

A

depositing water vapour to a surface cooler than 0 degrees

49
Q

what is the drainage basin?

A

the area of land drained by a river and its tributiaries. it includes water found on the surface, in the soil in near-surface geology

50
Q

what is confluence?

A

occurs when 2 or more flowing bodies of water join together to form a single channel

51
Q

the grrenland ice sheet:

A

-second largest body of ice, containing 8% of total global freshwater
-if the entire 2,850,000 cubic kilometers melted it would lead to a global sea level rise of 7.2m
-melting is starting much earlier in the year
-2016 and early melting event occured on april 10th until april 15th

52
Q

what is the global water cycle?

A

all the water on the planet, including all of the drainage basins. it is a closed system

53
Q

what is a hillslope drainage basin?

A

the water moving in one part of a drainage basin;localised characteristsics mean that the rates of movement in two adjoining drainage basins or tribituaries can differ in spite of their close proximity

54
Q

what is hillslope scale?

A

localised transfers operating on a small section of land within a drainage basin

55
Q

transport within the global water cycle:

A

-40 units are exchanged between water & land
-land precipitation contains 114 units, showing that there is considerable recirculation of water over continents
-water in pacific oceans is largely recirculated back into the same ocean
-water from the atlantic and indian ocean is exchanged more

56
Q

what is interception storage?

A

the precipitation that falls on the vegetation surfaces or human-made cover and is temporarily stored on these surfaces

57
Q

what is overland flow?

A

the tendancy of water to flow horizontally across land surfaces when rainfall has exceeded the infiltration capacity of the soil and all the surface stores are full to overflowing

58
Q

what is percolation?

A

the downward movement of water with the rock under the soil surface, rates vary depending on the nature of the rock

59
Q

what is run-off?

A

all the water that enters a river channel and eventually flows out the drainage basin

60
Q

what is the definition of saturated?

A

this applies to any water store that has reached its maximum capacity

61
Q

what is stemflow?

A

the portion of precipitation intercepted by the canopy that reaches the ground by flowing down stems, stalks or tree bole

62
Q

what is a storm and rainfall event?

A

an individual storm is defined as a rainfall period seperated by dry intervals of at least 24 hours, and an individual rainfall event is defined as a rainfall period seperated by dry intervals of at least 4 hours

63
Q

what is throughfall?

A

the portion of precipitation that reaches the ground or directly through gaps in the vegetation canopy and drips from leaves, twigs and stems.

64
Q

what is throughflow?

A

the movement of water down-slope through the subsoil under the influence of gravity. it is particularly effective when underlying permeable rock prevents further downward movement

65
Q

what is transpiration?

A

the loss of water from vegetation through pores on their surfaces

66
Q

what is the water balance?

A

the balance between inputs and ouputs in a drainage basin

67
Q

what does the soil water budget describe?

A

the soil water budget describes the changes in the soil water store during the course of a year

68
Q

what is the key influence on the soil water store?

A

the key influence on the soil water store is the relationship between precipitation and evapotranspiration

69
Q

wet seasons:

A

-precipitation exceeds evapotranspiration
-water surplus
-ground stores fill with water
-more surface runoff
-higher discharge
-river levels rises

70
Q

drier seasons:

A

-evapotranspiration exceeds precipitations
-ground store and depletion
-some flows into the river channel but is not replaced by precipitation

71
Q

what is discharge?

A

the amount of water passing a point over a given length of time. this is normally measured in cumecs or cubic meters per second

72
Q

what is a strom hydrograph?

A

a graph of river discharge loading up to and following a stormar rainfall event

73
Q

what is peak discharge?

A

highest flow rate in the river channel

74
Q

what is the lag time?

A

the time between peak rainfall and peak discharge

75
Q

what is falling limb?

A

river flow decreasing

76
Q

what is bankfall discharge?

A

point at which a river will over flow (flood)

77
Q

what is storm flow?

A

additional water in river from an overland flow + through flow

78
Q

what is baseflow/groundwater flow?

A

amount of water that would be in a river without addition of storm water

79
Q

what does a high peak discharge look like on a strom hydrograph?

A

steep rising + falling limb short lag time

80
Q

what does lower peak discharge look like?

A

gentler rising + falling limb longer lag time

81
Q

what is the drainage basin shape?

A

more circular in shape lead to more flashy hydrographs than those that are long and thin beacus each point in the drainage basin is roughly equidistant from themeasuring point

82
Q

what is drainage basin relief?

A

-drainage basins with steep sides tend to have flashier hydrographs than gentley sloped river basins
-because water flows more quickly on steep slopes

83
Q

drainage density:

A

basins that have a high drainage density have flashy hydrographs, all the water arrives at the measuirng station at the same time

84
Q

antercedent rainfall:

A

if a drainage basin is already saturated the overland flow increases because inflitration capacity has been reached resulting in a flashy hydrograph

85
Q

how do soil/rock type affect drainage basins?

A

drianage basins underlain by sandstones have subdued hydrograph because water soaks into the sandsound

86
Q

how does vegetation affect drainage basins?

A

thick vegetation covering in drainage basins will subdue the hydrograph because vegetation intercepts precipitation

87
Q

drought definiton?

A

a period of below average precipitation in a given region, resulting in prolonged shortages in water supply, whether atmospheric surface water or groundwater

88
Q

the water cycle before deforestation:

A

much of the precipitation is returned to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration. overlandflow is minimal, most of the water that reaches the forest floor infiltrates into the soil & travels slowly to the river

89
Q

the water cycle after localised deforestation?

A

evapotranspiration is lower because the replacement vegetation has smaller leaves,roots & is less dense. overland flow and throughflow occur because of lack of vegetation, increased discharge and flashiness

90
Q

soil drainage:

A

soil drainage is practised in areas in order to reduce the amount of water near the surface as much too much water can cause damage to crops. this is because too much water in the soil restricts the oxygen avaliable to crops and reduces yeilds

91
Q

what is the aim of soil drainage?

A

to reduce the amount of surface water/soil water and imptove agricultural potential of waterlogged land

92
Q

what are the advantages of soil drainage?

A

-the build up of an improved soil structure, making it more friable and easier to work
-improved aration
-heavy machinery can work on land without danger of compaction
-increased aearation
-large numbers of animals can be allowed to graze the land without compacting the soil

93
Q

what are the negative effects of soil drainage?

A

-discharge of rivers becomes more flashy
-peak discharges increases
-flooding more likely
-social and economic costs from flooding and subsequent damage

94
Q

what are the disadvantages of soil drainage?

A

-the insertion of drains artificially increases the speed of throughflow in the soil, can increase the likelyhood of flooding
-the dry topsoil can be subject to wind eroison if not properly protected
-nitrate loss can lead to eutrophication

95
Q

what is water abstraction?

A

the process of taking water from any source, either temporary or permanentely. this is mostly for agriculture and domestic water supplies

geography (9 decks)

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