Untitled Flashcards Set

So, what is earth’s water distribution? 

Three pie charts, two that matteet the most: the total global water and the fresh water.

Total global water is 96.5% from oceans, the remaining percentage feeding into the freshwater. Well, like 2.5% of it. (other negligible percent from saline) That is from glaciers, ice caps, and ground water. 

Precipitation. Part of the hydrologic cycle.

Takes form of rain, snow, sleet, hail, the result of condensation (which happens in the clouds). Transfers water vapor in the air to liquid water, which is too heavy to stay up there so it falls to the ground. 

Evapotransiration!!

Two parts: evaporation and transpiration!

It covers the process of and water at or near earth’s land turning into vapor in the atmosphere

So think, regards open water (rivers, lakes, oceans), bare soil (which is evaporates off of), vegitated surfaces (interception loss), leaves of plants (transpiration), ice and snow surfaces (sublimation)

Serves the WATER DEMAND

Evaporation accounts for open water, soil, veg. Surfaces.

Transpiration accounts for plants

So water evaporates off of open water, soil, veg surfaces

And water transpirates THROUGH a plant (wicked), moves through its roots to its vascular system, and out the leaf stomates. 

Literally steals water back from the earth

Potential and actual evapotranspiration?

Potential is the amount that would occur if sufficient water is available, actual is how much it actually happens. Potential is always more than or equal to actual. 

The higher the potential is, the drier and hotter climate is. Remember, ET is not precipitation, it does not replenish the water, it only steals it.

For water to evaporate, there must be heat absorbed so the bonds are broken by the molecules moving faster and the atoms can fly apart into gas form. Liquid to gas requires heat to free them of the bonds.

Evaporation is always accompanied with a transfer of heat out of the water body. It takes the heat with it. Think of sweating, when your sweat evaporates, the heat goes with it.

The same quantity is released during condensation, just opposite because it’s getting cold. It’s just equal quantity, different directions.

Transpiration is physical, not metabolic. So, the plant absorbs water through its roots from the soil. Through a process called translocation, the plant distributes water to its leaves and whatnot. But it leaks out of the leaves through stomal cavities, where its evaporated off the surface. So transpiration is just a prerequisite for more evaporation.

Ok, now for the movement of water normally.

Surface runoff, or overland flow

It’s just water flowing downslope. Negative angle, water follows it.

Streamflow is what it sounds like, water flowing in streams, rivers, creeks, etc.

Confined vs unconfined aquifer. Confined aquifer is a layer of rock or material that is so saturated with water, and just stuck there dorwning because its surrounded by imperable material, or rocks that absorb nothing. These are known as confining layers. Its connected to the surface somehow which is how it absorbs the water, but further down, its confined by disagreeable rocks. This guy is under a lot of pressure but literally can’t expand because its so confined

I’d hate to be reborn as a confined aquifer, like that is the reincarnation of punishment

Unconfined aquifer is above and below this, and above it comes into contact with the surface, but though it can bear water, it doesnt retain it.

Example:

Confined aquifer: A layer of whet sand trapped between two layers of impermeable clay. 

Unconfined aquifer: A sandy layer near the surface with a water table that can rise and fall depending on rainfall, but doesn’t retain it.

Why? Because they have a water table, which is liek a ribbon of water at atmosphere pressure, and thus can rise and fall.

Whether or not these aquifers are confined is less dependant on their material, but rather their positioning.

WAIT THIS IS HOW WELLS WORK

Wells penetrate confined aquifers, which is why the water rises. It’s a release of the pressure, and the water keeps going because it’s a collection of rainwater that keeps coming. 

These are migitaged by a recharge zone, which is like where they absorb water the best. All layers come to the surface here. Usually recharge zone is uphill

This happens through infiltration, which is the movement of the water from the surface to deeper in the soil. Then, it’s percolation, which is downward flow of water within the soil, typically to less saturated zones. 

How does flooding happen, technically? When the amount of rain or snowmelt exceeds how much the ground can absorb or carried away by rivers

What are some examples of impervious surfaces? Pavements and roofs for one. Yuuup, cities. Then, your only hope is runoff to avoid flooding. so , in cities, 30-50% of rainfall becomes runoff into water systems. In forests, only 5% foes into bodies of water – rest is absorbed.

Now, runoff isn't the best. Vegetation is important because it slows the flow of the runoff and allows water to be better absorbed into the soil. This is why deforestation is bad (again).

DAMN

Forest, meadow, ans agricultural have 0% impervious surface

Residential 38%, and city 85%

First is 80% infiltration, city is 83% runoff 

So, in cities, some flooding solutions are green roofs to increase pervious infiltrating surfaces, and more pervious suraces LOL

ARAL SEA

Was a lake that was once fourth largest in the world.

Created by two large downhill rivers that pooled into Aral Sea.

These rivers were used for agriculture and cotton, and though they made the desert bloom, they devastated the sea.

As this sea dried up, the fishing communities around it were FUCKED

The remaining salty water was riddled with pollutants like fertiziler and pesticides (likely due to the higher agriculture)

Became a public health hazard

Even the parts of the dired lakebed were salty, and the salty dust blew into crops and dried them up

ALSO this was a huge body of water and helped make theweather more moderate. When it was gone, summers became hotter and drier and winters were more bitter

They tried saving it by building a dam, which helped the communities, but the water is still shit

Subsidence is the sinking of land above an aquifer

Can also happen from underground material movement, but in the context of aquifers, its when the confined aquifer is pumped of its water faster than it can recharge, thus making it collapse slightly and making the surface bow down.

When this happens really quickly, whether it be from fracking or water depletion, it can cause a sinkhole

Sinkhole are especially prevalent in areas where the material in the gorundare easily dissolved by the movement of water through them. Think salt beds, limestone, carbonate rock

Now the reason why sinkholes are so dramatic are because, over time, caverns form underneath the affected area and the sinkhole occurs when the final staw is broken and the surface gives out into the cavern

Watershed is an area of land that helps channel streamflow. Can be either created by intense water flow or be naturally occurring 

Ok, pollution. Point source is polltion that happens from a single spot. Think you can pinpoint the source, like a factory,

Non-point source is like a variety of causes for the pollution, like fertilizer etc

Water pollution occurs differently

Think pollution in watershed, like watershed that also drain coal, copper, and other metal mines w heavy metal contamination 

Dead zone in the gulf of mexico!!

Also known as hypoxic zone

Are of low oxygen that can hurt wildlife

Caused by fertilizer

Most fertilizer in the US drains into the mississippi river, or the mississippi watershed, and are funnelled into the gulf

The fertilzer runoff goes into the gulf, causes plants and algeas to grow out of control, virtually making them invasive to their own habitat, and they take up all the oxygen. Bottom dwelling creatures like crabs and clams cannot escape and DIE.

This phenomnneon is called Eutrophication

Where water receives too many nutrients causing overgrowth in algae

Excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus 

WAIT NO its not because algae take all the oxygen, but because they die fast ashhhh and their decompostion takes up all the oxygen LMAO

They don;t even eat, they just DIE bruh

This decomposeition also releases al lot of co2, which makes the ocean more acidic

So how can we make this whole water thing more efficient and conserve it better?

Ok, dams and diversions. 

Wait open vs closed watershed, open is when it releases into a larger body, closed is when it all circulates and is primarily returned to the atmosphere via evaporation or infiltration to the  ground

Dam and diversion dams water to stop it from flowing to its natural area, and diverts it to another body of water, just redirectly the flow

Great for crops and farms, but makes sediment deposit weird and messes w the ecosystem

Channelization and artificial levees is also known as river training. Supposed to take a large distribution of water and focus it to be more concentrated. 

When these fail, it floods the area, happened to new orleans during katrina

So how can we manage and conserve the water 

To retain freshwater, we can irrigate crops more efficiently/ right now, farms operate on less than 40% efficiency and are wasting our freshwater. We can easily change our practcies and decrease freshwater use by 15-50%

We can also just use less water, or, cosnerve it

Take shorter showers, turn off water while brushing teeth, washing only full laundry loads – day to day behavioral changes 

WaterSense© Program by the USEPA resource for helping poeple save water and also a label for products that are water efficiency! 

Pretty sure ive seen this on the green toilets before. It’s on a lot of green showers, sinks, toilets, faucets, sprinklers, etc

We can take the city wastewatrr and treat it and reuse it for irrigation too! Has leftover nutrients

WE CAN USE REVERSE OSMOSIS FILTERS TO DESLIENATE WATER lets goooo

Other ways of getting the salt out is through boiling, or distilling 

Our poop water goes into da ground and soil eats itttt

Ok now 13

We neeed forests, contain 75% of worlds biodiversity

They prevent floods, carbon storage, help air and water quality, provide resources like wood and paper

Also its like transpiration ona huge level since trees are so huge, one large leaf tree can help evapotranspirate over 290 gallons of water

The rotos and trees stagger runoff and help more water infiltrate and thus be filtered into groundwater

Forest streams are cleaner than most, 15% fewer chemicals because the forest purifies it

Carbon storage!! Turns carbon into organic compounds.

So they give us wood products

About 3.4 billion cubic meters

Over half, 53% of wood is made into charoacl for fuel (renewable) 

31% is building material, so for houses, furniture, containers,

16% is for paper, but this uses smaller logs

All of thus produces water pollution however

Wood goods paper, charcaol and fuel logs (fuel), building material

Think fuel wood, lumber, and paper pulp mostly

paper ‘s process – lumber, chipping, pulping, paper.

As for non-woof products,

Rubber, food items like syrup, nuts ad berries!!, herbs and spices, and natural pharmaceuticals.

So just nibbles, ruber, and medcine,

Obv pharmecturicals are most profitable

After that, mushrooms and truffles LMAO

Then ginseng??? Crazy

Each year, .2% of the world’s forests DISAPPEAR DUE TO DEFORESTATION

Deforested area make great crop land unforch

Logs are burned, nutrients are released into the soil, initially very high crop production, then it lessens and crops are abandoned 

It happens for a few reasons –

Crops, lumber, and wood products, and also roads and urban development 

DAMN other countries have at least half their wood production happening illegally LMAOO

Ok now remebet hese terms:

High grading: basically reverse eugenics: only the biggest and best/most valuable trees are cut down and used (as if that’s any better for the forest)

Fragmentation is when chunks of forests are deforested, ans as this continues, all the chunks juts make up one lost forest 🙁

Fire suppression kills the smaller and weaker trees 

Allocation is exactly what it means – the management of the specific location and relative amounts of forest use. How we allocate the use depending on location 

Fuck they got tree plantantions now too, which are substantially worse

Clear cutting is just the total removal of big ole tree,s literally the worst and causes crazy flooding

We could instead harvest lille the gathers we are or do uneven age management. Apparently that’s better – just cut down the old trees

If we want to be sustainable, we need to define our rations, and then invest into sustainable practices 

Mmmkay chapter 14

Energy is measured by its ability to cause change

Measured by watts hour or joules units

Power is measured by watts units and it us how fast energy is transmitted or the time it took for the energy to be used

Primary energy is energy contained in natural sources

So think coal, oil, uranium, sunlight, wind

To measure the conservation efficiency, just take the initial energy potential and the minus its losses, thats the efficiency.

 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 − 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒 = energy conservation efficiency

100 unitsof coal being burned for energy, but 70 of the units are unused, only 30% of the source is used, that’s 30% efficiency

As for energy end us efficiency, it’s

End use of energy/primary source of energy times 100

Ok some natural energy comes from

Fossil fuels. They are hydrocarbons to funnel energy.

Fossil fuels are the way they are ebcauase of their elematal ocmposition:

Carbon, sulfer, hydrogen, nitrogen, mineral matter, ash

ALL of them have carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfer, and oxygen

Three primary sources are natural gas, petroleum, and coal

Coal mining destroys plant growth

Coal is formed through weather that erodes rock and causes sedimentary matter, or grains and fragments of matter called clasts

Water, wind, ice, gravity, etc carried clasts

orr , in wetter, swampier areas, natural debris (leaves, twigs, etc.), are buried and turn into organic matter or PEAT

Over time, heat and pressure compress it into goal (i guess coal and diamonds are made of the same compounds, just one has more pressure?) 

Underground this is fine but when coal is exposes to air, it rusts anf forms sulfate salts on the surface which is a pollutant

Formed by plants millions of years ago

Organic decomp causes peat, sediment acculuants on top of peat, applies pressure, plus high temp over time, 

Peat, lignite, coal (the process)

Nonrenewable – static amount, either cannot renew itself or takes too long, limited resource. Fossil fuels are nonnewneable, natural gas ,and nuclear energy are all nonrenewable

Types of goal, lignite (young coal, whet, before the pressure) pussy coal

Bituminous coal is denser, has higher carbon content, formed under higher heat and pressure, better energy output

Anthracite, oldest and post powerful coal. Lowk sexy, dark and shiny. Hiiiigh carbon content. 

Per weight energy content: liginte 3-4.5, bit. 5-8, anthracite 8 or more kwh per kg

Coal is 67 percent of global fuel use, 90 in the USA

Oil is also nonrenewable 

Natural gas also nonrenwable, largest source is methane

Oil is underwater from the dead remains of old organic matter. Decompsoes into kerogen, which, through what and pressure, is converted into oil

Its the same process, just that oil is mostly underwater and from plankton, whereas coal is swampy matter and on land

Oil and natural gas are formed by the same process and are in the same reserves

Most oil is prehistoric, with 70% from mezonic age probably because it had the most tropical climate and thus plankton

Oil has three forms of “recovery”

Primary, it’s pumped up, about 20% of oil is removed

Second is when not enough is extracted, so water is pumped int oreservoir so the oil floated up, recovers 15% more

Tertiary is when c02 stea is injected so it creates more pressure so oil comes up

WHAT IS FRACKING

The use of high pressure liquids (water) to fracture rocks (shale) 

Sand, chemicals, and water are used to force open opening.

Can cause contamination, pollution, blowout, toxics, large water use, infrastructure degreatdion

Wastewater disposal is more likely to cause earthquakes than fracking though

URANIUMMM

Heavy metal found in rocks in the ocean

Super high melting point, but very unstable and its atoms can break easily (fission), hence it mean used for nuclear energy.

The hwole makeup is very unstable

Fusion technically releases more power, but more heat is needed. Turns hydrogen into helium

Uranium spoilt releases heat and chain reaction,

Hydroelectric largest renewable energy source

Then. biomass

Solar energy is free and nonpolluting, only 3% of global total energy, needs tech to do, can be expensive

Solar energies, passive vs active

Passive is like thermal heating ,windows, active is more powerful but requires more tech. Think collectors, pumps, etc

Solar cells work like this photovoltaic, photons excite electrons and protons, elections collected create electricity 

Cannot store energy, just creates and moves it

Or we can use mirrors t oconceptrte it

You need limited rainfall and low cloud cover

EXPENSIVE

But government is investing into it anf its tax deductible

Getting cheaper

Emits c02