Water and Carbon Cycles
THE BIG IDEA
“This topic is about how water and carbon move around our planet. It looks at where they are kept, how they travel from place to place, and how people or nature can mess up the balance, which affects the weather and the environment.“
CRUCIAL KEYWORDS
Cryosphere
The frozen parts of the world, like glaciers and ice caps.
Carbon Sequestration
Storing carbon in a way that keeps it out of the air for a long time.
Evapotranspiration
The way water gets back into the air from both the ground and from plants ‘breathing’ out water.
Dynamic Equilibrium
A steady state where everything going in equals everything going out, keeping things stable.
Infiltration
Water soaking into the ground from the surface.
How It Works
1) The Drainage Basin as an Open System
Think of a drainage basin like a bathtub with the tap on and the plug out; water comes in as rain and leaves through the drain (the river).
2) Negative Feedback Loops
This is like a thermostat; if it gets too hot, the system works to cool things back down to normal.
3) The Biological Carbon Pump
Tiny sea creatures eat carbon, then die and sink to the bottom of the ocean, effectively burying the carbon under the sea.
4) The Slow Carbon Cycle
The very slow way carbon moves through rocks and volcanoes over millions of years.
CASE STUDY EVIDENCE
- The Amazon holds a massive amount of carbon, helping to keep it out of the atmosphere.
- Cutting down trees in the Amazon stops clouds from forming, which means it rains much less.
- Frozen ground in the Arctic is melting and letting out dangerous gases that make the planet even warmer.
- Bad farming can empty the soil of its natural carbon, making the land less healthy.
EXAM ESSENTIALS
- Always mention if a change was caused by nature or by people.
- Use real numbers and facts to prove your points in the exam.
- Don’t forget that carbon and water affect each other; if one changes, the other usually does too.
- Talk about how changes affect both a small local area and the entire world.