Theory

Created by

Mabel smith

Cards (50)

What percentage of global water does the ocean store
97%
Why is the water cycle a closed system
No water is lost or formed and it remains constant
What is the biosphere  
Space occupied by living organisms
What is the hydrosphere
All the water on earths surface
What is the cryosphere
Frozen parts of earths surface
What is the global distribution of water
Not even, less than 10 countries possess 60% of water. America has the largest share
What is an aquifer
An underground water source like a reservoir
Why is a river drainage basin an open system  
Water can enter and leave into the sea
What are inputs into the river drainage system
Precipitation
What is interception  
When water is stopped from hitting the ground by plants
What is throughfall
When water that was intercepted drops onto the floor
What is interception loss
When intercepted water is evaporated
What is percolation
Downward movement of water into rock
What is river discharge
Volume of water passing a given point over a given time
what is a flashy hydrograph
Lots of overland flow, short lag time makes the area liable to flooding.
What is a low flat hydrograph  
Less likely to flood
What are the outputs from the water drainage cycle
Evaporation, transpiration, run off
What is a water surplus
When precipitation is greater than evaporation so soil is saturated
Why is the global carbon cycle a closed system
No new carbon enters the system
What is the biggest store of carbon
Earths crust
Why do tropical climates store more carbon
High biomass store and high rates of decomposition
What is NPP
net primary production - amount of carbon sequestered by plants per m per year
What are the fluxes of carbon into the atmosphere
Respiration - soil and plants
decomposition - release co2
combustion - burning things releases co2
How does carbon enter the ocean
Diffusion
What is downwelling
When colder areas of the sea sink along with carbon
What is the biological pump of carbon
When phytoplankton use carbon for photosynthesis
What is sequestration
When remains of plants and animals become preserved and carbon is stored
What is the fast carbon cycle
Plants respiring and constant movement in the ocean
What is the slow carbon cycle
When carbon is in the rock and is eventually released via an eruption
How has urbanisation affected the water cycle
less infiltration
increased floodrisk
How has urbanisation affected the carbon cycle
Less photosynthesis as there is removed vegetation
production uses co2
How has farming impacted the water cycle
More infiltration
more saturated soils can mean increased flood risk
How has forestry impacted carbon cycle
Carbon store
What is water extraction
Process of taking water from a store temporarily or permanently
Where is the aral sea
Landlocked sea in Central Asia
What two rivers feed into the Aral Sea
Syr Darya basin and the Amu Darya basin
Why was water extracted from the Aral Sea in the 1930s
Agricultural purposes
What happened to the Aral Sea after extraction
Level fell by 20cm a year and in the 1970s it rose to 50cm a year.
What impacts did the decrease in Aral Sea have on the area
Much less precipitation
became a dry area and animals left , dust and pollutants were present
What is an aquifer
A water bearing band of permeable rock