Earth's Interdependent Systems

Related to factors or things that are separate and independent from living things; nonliving.

• Any compound that releases hydrogen ions when dissolved in water.
• Also, a water solution that contains a surplus of hydrogen ions.

• A soil horizon; the layer below the O layer is called the A layer.
• The A layer is formed of weathered rock, referred to as topsoil and is the zone of leaching.

A basic substance; chemically, a substance that absorbs hydrogen ions or releases hydroxyl ions; in reference to natural water, a measure of the base content of the water.

• An underground layer of porous rock, sand, or other material that allows the movement of water between layers of nonporous rock or clay.
• Aquifers are frequently tapped for wells.

Land that's fit to be cultivated.

The part of the mantle that lies just below the lithosphere.

The gaseous mass or envelope surrounding a celestial body--especially the one surrounding the earth which is retained by the celestial body's gravitational field.

A long, relatively narrow island running parallel to the mainland, built up by the action of waves and currents and serving to protect the coast from erosion by surf and tidal surges.

Any weathering that's caused by the activities of living organisms.

Living or derived from living things.

• A soil horizon; B receives the minerals and organic materials that are leached out of living organisms.
• This is the zone of illuviation

A soil horizon; horizon C is made up of larger pieces of rock that have not undergone much weathering.

Air currents caused by the vertical movement of air due to atmospheric heating and cooling.

The observed effect of the Coriolis force, especially the deflection of an object moving above the earth, rightward in the Northern Hemisphere, and leftward in the Southern Hemisphere.

A region of the ocean near the equator, chatacerized by calms, light winds, or squalls.

A method of supplying irrigation water throuhg tubes that literally drip water onto the soil at the base of each plant.

A climate variation that takes place in the tropical Pacific about every three to ten years, for a duration of about one year.

The part of the wide lower course of a river where its current is met by the tides.

The development and introduction of new varieties of (mainly) wheat and rice that has increased yields per acre dramatically in countries since the 1960s.

A system of vertical and horizontal air circulation predominating in tropical and subtropical regions and creating maor weather patterns.

The water from which a river rises; a source.

The dark, crumbly, nutrient-rich maaterial that results from the decomposition of organic material.

When soil becomes water-logged and then dries out, and salt forms a layer on its surface.

A cooling of the ocean surface off the western coast of South America, accurring periodically every 4 to 12 years and affecting Pacific and other weather patterns.

The outer part of the Earth, containing the crust and upper-mantle, approximately 100 km thick.

A soil mixture of sand, clay, silt, and organic matter.

A wind system that influences large climatic regions and revereses direction seasonally.

• The uppermost horizon of soil.
• It is primarily made up of organic material, including waste from organisms, the bodies of decomposing organisms, the bodies of decomposing organisms, and live organisms.

When water rights are given to those who have historically used the water in a certain area.

• The law-rainfall region that exists on the leeward side of a mountain range.
• This rain shadow is the result of the mountain range's causing precipitation on the windward side.

• A bloom of dinoflagellates that causees reddish discoloration of coastal ocean waters.
• Certain dinoflagellates can produce toxins that kill fish and contaminate shellfish.

The bedrock, which lies below all of teh other layers of soil.

The right, as to fishing or to the use of a riverbed, of one who owns riparian land (the land adjacent to a river or stream)

• The process in which soil becomes saltier and saltier until, finally, the salt prevents the growth of plants.
• Salinizaiton is caused by irrigation, as salts brought in with the water remain in teh soil as water evaporates.

The atmospheric pressure conditions corresponding to the periodic warming of El Nino and cooling of La Nina

A layer in a large body of water, such as a lake, that sharply separates regions differing in temperature, so that the temperature gradient across the layer is abrupt.

The outermost shell of the atmosphere, between the mesosphere and outer space, where temperatures steadily increase with attitude.

The A layer of soil.

The more or less constant winds blowing in horizontal directions over the earth's surface, as part of Hadley Cells.

A process in which cold, often nutrient-rich, waters from the ocean depths rise to the surface.

The region draining into a river system or other body of water.

Countries that have a renewable annual water supply of less than 1000 m³ per person.

Countries that have a renewable annual water supply of about 1,000-2,000 m³ per person.

• Measures the amplitude of the highest S-wave.
• Each increase in Richter number correspnds to an increase of approximately 33 times the energy of the precious number.

• 1977
• Soil and water conservation programs to aid landowners and users.
• Sets up conditions to continue evaluating the condition of U.S. soil, water, and related resources.

• 1985
• Nicknamed the Swampbuster, this act discouraged the conversion of wetlands to nonwetlands.
• Federal legislation denied federal farm supplements to those who converted wetlands to agriculture, and provided restoration of benefits to those who unknowingly converted lands to wetlands.

• A layer that acts as a buffer between the troposphere and next layer up.
• Hotter with altitude/

Upper layer of freshwater bodies and this the most oxygen-abundant.

The lower, colder, and denser layer of freshwater bodes.

The demarcation line between the epilimnion and hypolimnion.

• Composed of Nickel and Iron
• Mostly solid due to tremendous pressures

• Made of solid rock
• asthenoshphere is slowly moving rock

Occur as transform boundaries slide past each other.

• 4-8 (neutral to slightly acidic)
• Determines Solubility of nutrient absorption by plant roots.
• When pH of soil gets more acidic, ions of heavy metals such as mercury and aluminum can leach into the groundwater.

nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, humus (organic)

• Increased use of pesticides
• Mechanization of farming
• last 50 years
• development of genetically engineered plants.
• massive increase of irrigation causes salinization.

• Use manure to increase organic matter
• Modify tillage practices to reduce breakup of soil and to reduce the amount of erosion. (contour plaowing, strip planting)
• Use Trees and other wind barriers to reduce wind force.

• Contains majority of atmospheric water vapor and clouds.
• Colder with altitude.

• Gases not well mixed
• hotter with altitude
• ozone layer

where meteors burn up

• thinnest gas layer.
• where ionization occurs.
• reflects radio waves

• High-speeed currents of wind that occur in the upper troposphere
• Have a large influence on local weather patterns.

• Air at the equator
• No wind because air is constantly rising, due to receiving the most heat.

• created by the buildup of deposited sediments
• boundaries constantly shifted by moving water around it.
• important buffers to storms.

• 73% for crop irrigation
• 21% for industry use
• 6 % for domestic use.

Water is transported very long distances from its source through aqueducts and pipelines.