Biogeochemical Cycles

I. Biogeochemical Cycles - Flow of chemical ______& compounds between living organisms & the physical environment
Chemicals :

Absorbed or ingested by organisms (______)

Returned to the soil, air, and water by:

1. ______3. ______

2. ______4. ______

Biogeochemical Processes

  1. ______
  2. ______
  3. ______

Biogeochemical Cycles & the Earth

  1. Water Cycle B. Carbon Cycle C. Nitrogen D. SulfurE. Phosphorus

Largest source of water on Earth = ______

Largest source of freshwater on Earth = ______

Largest source of usable freshwater on Earth = ______

Water CycleVocabulary Review

Evaporation

  • Liquid water is heated by sun & changed to water vapor

Condensation

  • Water vapor is cooled and turns to liquid water droplets

Precipitation

  • Any form of water falling from the sky

Recharge

  • Replenishing of the water table (usually by rain or melting snow)

Runoff

  • Water that does not get absorbed by the ground and flows over an impermeable surface

Usage

  • When plants &/or animals remove water from the water table (ground water storage)

Surplus

  • Occurs when the water table is full and usage is low (may cause floods)

Defecit

  • Occurs when usage is high & the water table drops (drought)

1. Effects of Human Activities on Water Cycle

Humans alter the water cycle by:

  • ______large amounts of freshwater
  • Clearing ______
  • ______surface and underground water
  • ______to climate change

2. Carbon Cycle/Global Warming Affect the Water Cycle

Increased______ increased ↑______, runoff, and soil moisture

Feedback from increased temp:

Increased cloud cover  (1) reflects light back into the atmosphere, so decreased temp (upper atmosphere)

Increased cloud cover  (2) water vapor absorbs heat in the atmosphere, so increased temp (below clouds)

B. Carbon Cycle

A biochemical circulation of the element carbon through the Earth System

1. Carbon is the ______


______

2. Carbon is changed into different compounds as it goes through the cycle

  • CH4 = ______
  • CO2 = ______
  • C6H12O6 = ______

3. ______enters atmosphere as Carbon Dioxide (CO2):

  • ______(Respiration)

O2+Food = CO2+H2O+Energy

  • Produced by ______
  • Released by ______
  • Released by ______
  • ______
  1. ______as CO2 taken up by plants during photosynthesis (trees, grass, algae)
  • CO2+H2O+sunlight =C6H12O6(Food) +O2
  • Carbon is stored in plant tissue as (C6H12O6) Carbohydrates
    Ex. ______
  1. Animals eat plant ______
  2. Or ______in oceans dies
  • Settles to bottom & becomes ______
  • Lithification- ______
  1. Ocean is known as a Carbon Sink because it ______
  2. Carbon dioxide from Atmosphere is dissolved in the ocean during ______
  • Forms bicarbonate & Calcium Carbonate (lime that forms ______)

Carbon Cycle

Name ______Date ______Per ___

Use the following terms to fill in the blanks & arrows above: Shell formation, photosynthesis (use twice), respiration (use twice), oil, coal, Natural gas, limestone, absorption & desorption, weathering & erosion, burning & decay, volcanism, lithification.

Copyrighted, 1998 - 2004 by Nick Strobel

9. Effects of Human Activities on Carbon Cycle

Adding excess CO2 to the atmosphere:

  • ______
  • ______faster than it is replaced.
  1. Relevance of Carbon Cycle to Climate Change
  • CO2 in atmosphere is increasing 0.4% a year
    (= ______in 100 yr.)
  • Increasing CO2 causes increased temperatures. (______)
  • Heat captured by the atmosphere:
  • CO2 = ______
  • CH4 = ______
  • CFCs = ______
  • NO2, H2O, O3 = 15%

C. Nitrogen Cycle

Nitrogen

Important to living things because it is required to form ______

______

Most living things cannot use ______gas in their cells.

1. Nitrogen fixing bacteria

Use nitrogen from the atmosphere to form ______

Form of nitrogen that ______

Live in the ______and in ______

Ex of Legumes: ______

2. Nitrifying bacteria make NH3 into:

NO2- = ______


NO3- = ______

Most common form of nitrogen for plants, ______

  1. Animals get the nitrogen they need from ______ they consume
  2. Decomposers return the nitrogen to the soil in the form of ______which restarts the cycle

5. Human Alter the Nitrogen Cycle by:

Adding gases that contribute to ______

Adding nitrous oxide to the atmosphere through farming practices which can warm the atmosphere and deplete ozone (tilling soil too much)

______water from nitrate ions in inorganic fertilizers

Releasing nitrogen into the troposphere through ______

6. Effects of Human Activities on the Nitrogen Cycle

Human activities such as production of fertilizers ______than all natural sources combined

a. Effects of Increased Nitrogen

  1. Loss of soil nutrients
    (Ex. ______)
  2. ______of rivers and lakes (fertilizers and combustion of coal)
  1. Increases nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere
  2. (______—global warming)
  3. (______—increasing UV penetration).
  1. Aids in spreading ______into nitrogen poor areas
    (Eutrophication of lakes, ponds, streams)
    Eutrophication - The process by which a body of water acquires a high concentration of nutrients.

Ex. of nutrients = ______

  • Promotes excessive growth of ______
  • Algae die and ______
  • High levels of organic matter and the decomposing organisms deplete the water of available ______
  • Causes the ______of other organisms, such as fish

5.Increasing nitrogen increases ______(linked to carbon cycle)

6.Increasing acidification increases ______(increases rate of ______cycle)

D. Sulfur Cycle

1. Key Compounds of the Sulfur Cycle

  1. Dimethyl sulfide
  2. Sulfur dioxide
  3. Sulfur trioxide
  4. Sulfuric Acid
  5. Ammonium Sulfate
  6. Hydrogen Sulfide

a. Dimethyl sulfide______

•Emissions from ______

•Occurs over ______

b. Sulfur dioxide SO2

  • Emissions:
  • Industries example : ______
  • Volcanoes

c. Sulfur trioxide ______

•Primary agent in acid rain

• SO3 (l) + H2O (l) → H2SO4 (l)

d. Sulfuric acid ______

  • Gas released by cutting ______combines with ______in your eye to
    form ______
  • Principal uses include:
  • Ore processing
  • ______
  • Oil refining

e. Ammonium Sulfate ______

  • Made when ______reacts with ______
  • Uses:
  • Fertilizer
  • Agricultural spray

- aids for water soluble pesticides

f. Hydrogen Sulfide ______

  • Emitted by ______and ______
  • Remains in atmosphere for ______
  • Changes into sulfur dioxide

1. Importance in Biochemical Cycle

  • ______
  • Bacteria oxidize ______(black smokers of ocean floor)
  • Factor for plant ______

2. Effects of Human Activities on the Sulfur Cycle

  • Humans add sulfur dioxide to the atmosphere by:
  • Burning ______
  • Refining ______
  • Convert sulfur-containing metallic ores into free metals such as copper, lead, and zinc releasing sulfur dioxide into the environment.

E. Phosphorous

1. First isolated in 1669 by Hennig Brand, (German physician and ______)

  • Trying to make ______
  • Let urine stand for days
  • Boiled it down, captured gases & condensed them
  • Results = white, waxy substance that glowed in the dark
  • Brand had discovered phosphorus

2. Greek means ______

  1. Essential to living organisms because it forms

•______

•RNA

•______

•______

  1. Not common in ______
  2. Slowest ______cycle
  3. Remains mostly on land in ______
    in ______
  4. Strictly a Lithosphere – Hydrosphere – Biosphere cycle (______)

8.Effects of Human Activities on the Phosphorous Cycle

Removal large amounts of phosphate from the earth to make ______

Reduce phosphorous in tropical soils by ______

Add excess phosphates to aquatic systems from runoff of animal wastes and fertilizers

II. Laws of Thermodynamics

  • 1st Law –energy/matter cannot be ______, only changed from one form to another
  • ______
  • 2nd Law- when energy changes, it is converted from a more useful, more ______form to a less useful, less concentrated form.
  • Energy can never be recycled completely. Some energy is lost, usually as ______

III. Intro Energy Cycle

  • The movement of energy into & out of the Earth System
  • The amount of energy that enters the system should = the amount of energy that is removed
  • ______
  • ______
  • ______
  1. Solar Power
  • 99.985% of energy that enters the Earth’s system is from the sun
  • ______
  • Causes rocks to weather, forming ______

1. Albedo

  • The percentage of ______off the Earth without being changed
  • Forest = ______reflects 5-10%
  • Snow covered field = ______80-90%
  1. Geothermal Energy
  • .013% is energy from within the Earth
  • ______
  • ______

______

  • Powers ______
    ______
  1. 3. Tidal Energy
  • .002% is energy that results from the Sun & Moon’s pull on Earth’ s ocean
  • ______