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GEOGRAPHY A LEVEL REVISION - LVI > Earth's Life Support Systems > Flashcards

Earth's Life Support Systems Flashcards

1
Q

Outline the importance of water? (4)

A
  • Allows molecules to mix
  • Oceans (71% earth surface) absorb heat and release slowly
  • Clouds + ice reflect 20% incoming radiation
  • Water vapour (greenhouse effect) maintains average 15ºC
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2
Q

How is water used in plants? (5)

A
  • Photosynthesis
  • Respiration
  • Transpiration
  • Makes up 65-95% of organisms
  • Metabolic functions
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3
Q

How is water important economically? (5)

A
  • Generates electricity
  • Irrigates crops
  • Recreation
  • Public demand
  • Industries
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4
Q

How is carbon an economic resource?

A
  • Fossil fuels power economy
  • Manufacturing products
  • Agriculture
  • Raw materials
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5
Q

What are the three main stores of the water cycle?

A
  • Atmosphere
  • Oceans
  • Land
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6
Q

What are the main processes in the water cycle? (5)

A
  • Precipitation
  • Evaporation
  • Transpiration
  • Run-off
  • Ground flow
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7
Q

What are the main stores of the carbon cycle? (6)

A
  • Sedimentary rocks
  • Oceans
  • Fossil fuels
  • Peat
  • Atmosphere
  • Plants
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8
Q

What are the main processes in the carbon cycle?

A
  • Photosynthesis
  • Respiration
  • Decomposition
  • Oxidation
  • Combustion
  • Volcanic activity
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9
Q

What percentage of the Earth’s water is stored in oceans?

A
  • 97%
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10
Q

What percentage of the Earth’s water is stored in the cryosphere?

A
  • 2%
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11
Q

Where is 99.9% of the Earth’s carbon stored?

A
  • Sedimentary rocks
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12
Q

What are stores of carbon also called?

A
  • Carbon sinks
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13
Q

What are inputs into the atmosphere in the water cycle?

A
  • Evaporation of water

- Transpiration of water

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14
Q

How does moisture leave the atmosphere in the water cycle?

A
  • Precipitation

- Condensation

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15
Q

How is water lost from the cryosphere?

A
  • Melting

- Sublimation

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16
Q

How does water move between ground and land stores?

A
  • Run-off
  • Infiltration
  • Percolation
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17
Q

What strands combine to form the global carbon cycle?

A
  • The slow carbon cycle

- The fast carbon cycle

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18
Q

What is the residence time for carbon in rocks?

A
  • 150 million years
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19
Q

How much carbon is circulated in the slow carbon cycle per year?

A
  • 10-100 million tonnes
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20
Q

How is the slow carbon cycle linked to volcanic activity?

A
  • Carbon stored in sedimentary rocks gets subducted

- Vented onto atmosphere during eruptions

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21
Q

How are carbonaceous rocks formed as part of the slow carbon cycle?

A
  • Partly decomposed organic material is buried under younger sediment
  • Forms carbonaceous rock
  • Eg coal, oil, natural gas
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22
Q

Where does carbon circulate fastest?

A
  • Atmosphere
  • Oceans
  • Biosphere
  • Soils
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23
Q

How much faster are the transfers in the fast carbon cycle than in the slow carbon cycle?

A
  • 10-1000 times
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24
Q

What are the key components of the fast carbon cycle?

A
  • Land plants

- Phytoplankton

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25
Q

What is the water balance equation?

A
  • Precipitation = Evaporation + Streamflow +/- Storage
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26
Q

What forms does precipitation come in?

A
  • Rain
  • Snow
  • Hail
  • Sleet
  • Drizzle
27
Q

Outline the varying characteristics of precipitation with physical geography?

A
  • High latitudes - snowfall remains for long time, large lag time
  • Intensity
  • Duration
  • Some locations have concentrated rainy season
28
Q

How much moisture in the atmosphere is transpiration responsible for?

A
  • 10%
29
Q

What is the simple basis of cloud formation?

A
  • Phase change of vapour to liquid as air cools to its dew point
30
Q

What happens at the dew point?

A
  • At critical temperature air becomes saturated with vapour, causing condensation
31
Q

Describe cumuliform clouds.

A
  • Flat bases, vertical development
32
Q

How do cumuliform clouds form?

A
  • Air heated through contact with Earth’s surface
  • Air parcels rise (convection) and expand due to reduced pressure and cool
  • When reaching dew point, condensation begins and clouds form
33
Q

How do stratiform clouds form?

A
  • Air mass moves horizontally across a cool surface eg ocean

- Air mixes with turbulence, known as advection

34
Q

Describe stratiform clouds.

A
  • Wide, flat clouds that form in stable conditions

- Lower in atmosphere, can cause fog

35
Q

Describe cirrus clouds.

A
  • Wispy

- High altitude, > 6,000 meters

36
Q

Why do cirrus clouds not impact the water cycle significantly?

A
  • Formed of ice crystals

- Do not form precipitation

37
Q

What are clouds?

A
  • Visible aggregates of water, ice or both that float in free air
38
Q

Define environmental lapse rate.

A
  • Vertical temperature profile of lower atmosphere

- Temp falls by 6.5ºC per km height gained

39
Q

Define dry adiabatic lapse rate.

A
  • Rate which dry air parcel cools

- Cooling due to adiabatic expansion is 10ºC per km

40
Q

Define dry air.

A
  • Air with humidity less than 100%
41
Q

Define saturated adiabatic lapse rate.

A
  • Rate which saturated air parcel cools as it rises
  • Condensation releases latent heat
  • Cooling rate is 7ºC per km
42
Q

What are lapse rates?

A
  • Describe vertical distribution of temperature in lower atmosphere
  • Describe temperature changes within air parcels as they rise
43
Q

What is atmospheric instability?

A
  • Air is warmer than surroundings
  • Less dense, more buoyant
  • Air rises freely in a convection current
44
Q

What temperature is the dew point at?

A
  • 8ºC
45
Q

When does a cloud or air parcel stop rising?

A
  • When atmosphere is stable

- Parcel and surrounding air is same temperature

46
Q

What are the flow paths of rainwater that do not enter storage?

A
  • Infiltration by gravity into soil, through flow into stream/river channels
  • Overland flow across surface as a sheet or trickles into stream/river channels
47
Q

How does interception storage capacity affect interception loss?

A
  • Dry surfaces retain most water

- Saturated surfaces retain little water

48
Q

How does wind speed impact interception loss?

A
  • Evaporation increases with wind speed
49
Q

How does vegetation types impact interception loss?

A
  • Greater losses from grasses than agricultural crops

- Trees have higher losses than grasses

50
Q

How does tree species influence interception loss?

A
  • Losses are far greater from evergreen conifers than deciduous trees
  • More water trapped between conifer needles, increasing evaporation
51
Q

How can lithology influence percolation?

A
  • Permeable rocks increases percolation
  • Water joins ground flow
  • Impermeable rocks reduce percolation and increase run off
52
Q

What is the term for exchanges in the carbon cycle?

A
  • Fluxes
53
Q

How does precipitation move carbon between stores?

A
  • Atmospheric CO2 dissolves in rainwater
  • Increasing due to anthropogenic emissions
  • Increases acidity of surface waters
54
Q

How does photosynthesis move carbon between stores? How much is transferred annually?

A
  • Moves from atmosphere to land plants and phytoplankton
  • 120 gigatonnes
  • Respiration releases CO2 into atmosphere
55
Q

What is carbonation?

A
  • Acid rain slowly dissolves limestone and chalk

- Releases carbon into streams, rivers, oceans and atmosphere

56
Q

How much carbon is transferred by weathering annually? Name an example that shows the effectiveness of weathering.

A
  • 0.3 billion tonnes

- Norber Brow, Yorkshire where limestone surface has been lowered by half a meter in 13,000 years

57
Q

How can naturally occurring forest fires help ecosystems?

A
  • Fire increase the decomposition of material to make nutrients accessible
  • Opens forest canopy, creates new habitats, increases biodiversity
58
Q

How much carbon dioxide is transferred from the geological store to oceans, atmosphere and biosphere by combustion?

A
  • 10 gigatonnes
59
Q

What are the two mechanisms of carbon sequestration?

A
  • Physical pump

- Biological pump

60
Q

What does the physical pump of carbon sequestration involve?

A
  • Mixing of surface and deep ocean waters by vertical currents
  • More even distribution of carbon vertically and globally
61
Q

What is downwelling in carbon sequestration?

A
  • Currents move dissolved CO2 polewards, cools and becomes denser, sinks
62
Q

How does carbon that has undergone downwelling rejoin the carbon cycle?

A
  • Moves into area of upwelling

- Cold, carbon-rich water rises and CO2 diffuses into atmosphere

63
Q

What is the biological pump of carbon sequestration?

A
  • Photosynthesis by phytoplankton
  • Phytoplankton accumulate carbon on ocean floor or releases into oceans as CO2
  • Crustaceans extract carbonate to create skeletons, end up as sediments and is lithified to form chalk and limestone
64
Q

How does vegetation cause carbon fluxes?

A
  • Land plants eg rainforests, boreal forests store loads of carbon
  • Most extracted from atmosphere through photosynthesis

GEOGRAPHY A LEVEL REVISION - LVI (23 decks)

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