Water and Carbon cycles

Hydrology

Study of water

Hydrosphere

Includes all liquid and frozen waters, groundwater held in soil and rock and atmosphere

Cryosphere

Water locked up as ice (surface)

Atmosphere

Water in atmosphere (in clouds and rain etc.) as mainly water vapour and ice crystals

Oceanic

Water in oceans and seas, not inland seas

Terrestrial

Consists of groundwater, soil moisture, lakes, wetlands and rivers

Water cycle

Aquifer

Storage of water below rocks

Why is the North West Sahara aquifer system so important?

It wasn’t always a desert and could be drilled into to supply water

Total global water

Oceans 97%

Freshwater 2.5%

Other saline water <1%

Total freshwater

Glaciers, ice sheets/caps 69%

Groundwater 30%

Surface/other freshwater 1%

Total surface water and other freshwater

Ground ice and permafrost 69%

Lakes 21%

Atmosphere 3%

Living things <1%

Rivers, marshes, soil water 7%

Flow/transfer

A form of linkage between one store and another, involves movement energy or mass

Input

The addition of matter and/or energy into a system

Store/component

A part of the system where energy/mass is stored or transformed

System

A set of interrelated components working together towards some kind of process

Isolated systems

No input or output

No interactions outside boundaries

Only in Labs

Closed systems

Transfers energy into and beyond boundaries

Not matter

Open system

Energy and matter can be transferred across boundary into surroundings

Dynamic equilibrium

Balance between inputs and outputs

Positive feedback

System increases or amplifys

Negative feedback

System decreases or slows

Drainage basin

An area of land that is drained by a river system and is characterised by a series of inputs, flows and outputs

The water budget

Length of channel ÷ drainage area

Fine drainage

More tributaries

Coarse drainage

Few tributaries

Trellis drainage basin

Bulb shape morphology

Linear drainage basin

Rectangular shaped morphology

Water table

Top of groundwater

Field capacity

The water not available for plant use

Soil moisture utilisation

Spring and summer, vegetation grows and uses moisture

Soil moisture surplus

Reached saturation point and more rainfall will lead to flooding

Soil moisture deficit

Reached wilting point and there is no water available for plants

Soil moisture recharge

Late autumn/winter to spring, rainfall replaces water lost from summer

Hydrograph key terms

●Discharge= level of river

●Peak rainfall=most rainfall within an hour

●peak discharge=river reaches highest point after rainfall

●lag time=rivers response time to rainfall event

●base flow=river level being fed by groundwater

●bankfall=channel is full and any more water over the line signals a flood

Subdued hydrograph

Long lag time/ slow reponse

Flashy hydrograph

Short lag time/quick response

Hydrograph

Factors affecting hydrographs

Physical

Human

Antecedent conditions

Factors affecting changes in the water cycle

Deforestation

Soil drainage

Water abstraction

Anthropogenic

CO2 made by human activity

Biosphere

Total sum of all living matter

Carbon sequestration

The capture of CO2 from either the atmosphere or anthropogenic sources before it gets released

Greenhouse gases

Any gaseous compound in the atmosphere that absorbs infrared radiation, thereby trapping heat

Important compounds of carbon

CO2

Methane CH4

Calcium carbonate

Hydrocarbons

Bio-molecules

Primary source of carbon

Earth's mantle when it was formed

Origins of carbon

●Escapes through tectonic plates and volcanic activity

●Most CO2 derives from the metamorphosism of carbonate rock that subducts with the ocean crust

●carbon is removed from long-term storage by the burial of sedimentary rock

The carbon cycle

The Keeling curve

Net carbon sink

If more carbon enters something than out

Net carbon source

If more carbon leaves something than enters

Movements of carbon

Geological

Photosynthesis

Respiration

Decomposition

Evapotranspiration

Physical carbon pump

Warm tropical water goes to poles and absorbs CO2 then gets dragged along the ocean bed to equator and releases CO2

Biological carbon pump

Carbon is incorporated into Marine life as organic matter or as structural CaC - Skeletons

Dies - goes onto ocean floor - layers of carbon rich sediment

After Millions of years, you get sedimentary rocks