Water and carbon cycle

• The water table is the boundary between saturated and un-saturated rock
• The water budget is the balance between inputs and outputs
• Drought is an prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall leading to a water shortage
• If the Greenland ice sheet was to melt, sea level wold rise by 7.2m
• A drainage basin is an area of land drained by a river and its tributaries
• Groundwater flow is the movement of water through underlying rock
• Infiltration is the downward movement of water from the surface into soil
• Overland flow is the flow of water horizontally across the surface
• Percolation is the downward movement of water within rock
• Through flow is the movement of water downslope through the soil aided by gravity
• Precipitation is an input to a drainage basin
• Evaporation and transpiration are outputs
• River regime is the seasonal changes in a river's dishcarge
• A hydrograph is a graph showing discharge of a river over time after a storm event
• Lag time is the time between peak rainfall and peak dishcarge
• Base flow is the normal day-to-day discharge of a river
• A flashy hydrograph has a steep climbing and falling limb, high peak discharge and short lag time
• A subdued hydrograph has a shallow climbing and falling limb, low peak discharge and long lag time
• A steep-sided basin will have a flashier hydrograph
• A drainage basin with a high drainage density will be flashier as all water arrives at the same time
• A drainage basin that is already saturated will increase overland flow and have a flashier hydrograph
• A drainage basin with impermeable rock will have a flashier hydrograph as overland flow will be higher
• Deforestation leads to increase run off leading to flooding and soil erosion
• Soil drainage increases speed of through flow in soil and nitrate loss
• Water abstraction causes sinking water tables and groundwater overexploitation
• Groundwater recharge can occur from rainfall, snowmelt or surface water
• Carbon pump is the process operating in oceans circulating and storing carbon
• Carbon sequestration is the capture of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into storage
• Carbon sink is a store of carbon that absorbs more than it releases
• Carbon is stored as fossil fuels, litter and peat in the lithosphere
• Carbon is stored as vegetation, soil humus and animals in the biosphere
• Soil humus is the accumulation of remains after organic matter has decomposed
• Peat is the accumulation of partially decayed organic material in wetland conditions
• Carbon is moved through photosynthesis where plants absorb carbon from sunlight energy to form oxygen as a by-product
• Carbon is moved through respiration where plants and animals use oxygen with by-products of carbon dioxide and water
• Decomposition is where organic matter is transformed by decomposers into smaller molecules
• Biological pump is organic sequestration by phytoplakton
• Carbonate pump is where marine organisms use carbon in calcium carbonate to form shells and exoskeletons
• Physical pump is the circulation of water around the world
• Changing carbon on the water cycle leads to ocean acidification