Tectonic Plates
How many major tectonic plates exist?
15
What is the process where liquid water becomes vapor?
Where is most phosphorus stored?
in rocks
What process converts CO₂ and water into glucose and oxygen?
Photosynthesis.
What percentage of the atmosphere is nitrogen?
78%.
What type of boundary forms new crust? An example is the Mid Atlantic Ridge
Divergent
What is transpiration?
Plants releasing water vapor through leaves.
How does phosphorus enter the environment naturally?
Through rock weathering (water/wind erosion).
What process releases energy of sugars and sends carbon back into the atmosphere?
Cellular respiration.
Conversion of nitrogen gas to ammonia.
What is nitrogen fixation?
What type of boundary causes earthquakes by plates sliding past one another? An example is the San Andreas Fault in CA.
Transform
What is the process by which water is purified as it runs off through the soil?
infiltration
How do humans add excess phosphorus to ecosystems?
Using fertilizers and detergents.
What are carbon sinks?
Reservoirs that store more carbon than they release (e.g., forests, oceans).
What process converts ammonium ions to nitrates usable by plants?
nitritfication
When One plate slides under another, forming volcanoes is called what?
subduction
What is the difference between weathering and erosion?
Weathering is the break down of rocks and soil; Erosion is the removal of soil by wind, rain, etc
What is eutrophication?
Overgrowth of producers, such as algae, from excess nutrients.
How does the ocean store carbon? Name 2.
from Atmosphere, run off, undersea volcanos, remains of organisms.
What process returns nitrogen to the atmosphere?
What was Earth’s last supercontinent called and how do we know the plates were together?
Pangaea. Shapes fit and edges have similar compositions.
What human activity increases acidity of precipitation?
Air pollution (emission of acid-forming gases).
Low oxygen levels from decomposing dead producers.
What is hypoxia?
Name one way humans disrupt the carbon cycle.
Burning fossil fuels or deforestation.
How did the Haber-Bosch process change the nitrogen cycle?
It doubled nitrogen available to organisms, increasing fertilizer use and pollution.