Geography- Water and Carbon Cycles

Open Systems: Inputs and outputs of energy and materials. exchange of materials

Closed Systems: No inputs or outputs. loops energy in a closed loop

Drainage Basin: Area of land that provides water to a river system

Hydrology: The study iof water on the face of the earth

Watershed: Edge of a drainage basin

Water Budget: Balance of inputs/outputs in a drainage basin

Saturated: All avaliable spaces between soil particles are filled with water

Water Table: Level of the tio of the saturated soil under the ground

Condensation: Change in the state from vapour to liquid- due to cooling

Evaporation: Liquid water to vapour- due to heating

Precipitation: water from atmosphere to surface- Rain/Snow

Response: Way in which river responds to input of precipitation- Flashy or Slowly

Transpiration: Plants lose water through Stomata in their leaves into the atmosphere

Infiltration Capacity: The rate at which water is able to pass through soil-high for sandy soil, low for clay soil

Impermable: Surface that water can not pass through

Permeable: Surface that water can pass through

Groundwater Flow: Water moving through soil

Throughflow: Water moving through rocks beneath the soil at a slow rate 

Overland Flow: Water flowing on the ground surface- due to impermeable surfaces or frozen ground

Channel Flow: Water held in the channel as it moves through the basin

Evapotranspiration: The loss of water by evaporation and transpiration combined- represents balance

Runoff: Water and sediment moved down a channel and out of catchment area

Hydrograph: Graph of the water level over the year

Base Flow: Day to Day flow of a river

Discharge: Water flowing through a channel at any given point, measure in cubicM/Sec

Rising Limb: Hydrograph section that records increase in river flow

Lag Time: Difference between peak rainfall and peak discharge

Falling Limb: Hydrograph section that records decrease in river flow

Organic: Matter derived from living things, plant and animal residue

Non-Organic: Compounds that derive from non-living matter 

Sedimentary Rocks: Rocks resulting from heat and pressure compressing and consolidation deposing material. form on the seafloor mistly

Lithification: The process by which sediements become compresed into solid rocks, due to pressure.

Carbon Source: Carbon releaed faster than its absorbed

Carbon Sink: Absorbtion of carbon comes quiker than release

Fast Carbon Cycle: Relatively rapid transfer kf carbon over the years

Slow Carbon Cycles: Slower transfer of carbon compunds

Ocean-Atmosphere Exchange: Ocean absorbing Co2 and release it to the atmosphere

Terrestrial: Land not water or air

Marine: Seas not land and air

Carbon Sequestriation: Removal of carbon through natrual or artificial removal and burial in long term store

Methane Hydrates:Mathane locked in an ice framework and shelves

Dynamic Equilibrium: Stability in a cycle when key components reach a state of balance

Feedback Loop: Output becomes an input in the same system

Greenhouse gas: Absorbs Infared radiation and warms the atmosphere- Co2

Albedo: Reflection that redirects shortwave slar radiation back into space

Carbon Budget:Surplus or deficit of carbon once carbon output is - from input

Flux: A flow of gas, liquid or solid matter resulting in a transfer of locations

Phytoplankton: plant form of Plankton that uses carbon to produce sugars

Zooplankton: The 'animal' form of plankton, can be found at range of depths and feeds on phytoplankton

Carbon Pump: natrual energy force resulting in a carbon flux, gravity moves plankton into currents

Biogeochemical Systems: Chemicals transferred from living to environment

Carbonation: The chemical conversion from solid to souluable

Hydrocarbon: Wide range of chemical compunds based on carbon and hydrogen

Trading Bloc: Group of countries who agrree to trade measures

Regime: Pattern or flow of a river

Riparian: Habitats associated with land alongside flowing water