Get your Cycle on
When water seeps into the ground and becomes groundwater, it’s called this part of the water cycle.
What is infiltration.
This type of wetland is dominated by grasses and herbaceous plants, not trees.
What is a marsh?
These winds blow from the east toward the west and are important for driving ocean currents near the equator.
What is trade winds?
This scientist is credited with developing the theory that changes in Earth's orbit and tilt contribute to long-term climate patterns like ice ages.
Who is Milutin Milankovitch?
The outer layer of Earth is broken into large pieces called these.
What is plate tectonics?
These tiny organisms break down dead plants and animals, helping return nutrients to the soil.
What is decomposers?
Compare the salinity between freshwater and marine biomes.
What is freshwater has low salinity and saltwater has high salilinty?
During this weather pattern, the trade winds weaken or even reverse, leading to warmer ocean waters in the Pacific.
What is El Nino?
This part of the Milankovitch Cycle describes the way Earth's orbit shifts from more circular to more elliptical over a 100,000-year period.
What is Eccentricity?
This is the thin, outermost layer of Earth where we live.
What is the crust?
This process in the nitrogen cycle occurs when bacteria living in legume roots convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia.
What is nitrogen fixation?
This is the mixture of saltwater and freshwater where a river meets the ocean.
What is an estuary?
This weather pattern is characterized by stronger-than-normal trade winds and cooler-than-average ocean temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific.
What is La Nina?
This aspect of the Milankovitch Cycle refers to the change in the angle of Earth's axial tilt, which affects the severity of seasons.
What is obliquity?
This was the name of the supercontinent that existed over 200 million years ago before breaking apart into today’s continents.
What is Pangea?
Unlike carbon and nitrogen, this element’s cycle does not involve the atmosphere and mainly moves through rocks and soil.
What is phosphorus?
This phenomenon occurs when certain marine organisms produce light through chemical reactions.
What is bioluminescence?
These winds occur between 30° and 60° latitude in both hemispheres and blow from the west to the east.
What is westerlies?
Perihelion refers to the point in Earth's orbit when it is closest to the Sun, while this term describes the point when Earth is farthest from the Sun.
What is aphelion?
When an oceanic plate sinks under a continental plate, this process occurs.
What is divergent boundary?
Human actions like cutting down forests and burning fossil fuels are speeding up this natural cycle.
What is the carbon cycle?
This zone of the ocean receives enough sunlight for photosynthesis to occur and is home to most ocean life.
What is the photic zone
During El Niño, these regions often experience wetter-than-usual conditions, while others may face droughts.
What are the western coast of South America and the southern United States?
When Earth’s orbit is more elliptical, it means that the Earth is closer to the sun during this season in the Northern Hemisphere.
What is summer?
When an oceanic plate sinks under a continental plate, this process occurs.
What is subduction?