Biogeochemical+Cycles

Answer all questions and include pictures for each of the cycles. Pictures say 1000 words, so include them as much as possible.

The Water Cycle 1. Define the major processes/terms involved in the water cycle: Precipitation, Transpiration, Runoff, Evaporation, Percolation, Groundwater Tyia

== Precipitation - Condensed water vapor that falls to the Earth's surface. Most precipitation occurs as rain, but also includes snow, hail, fog drip, and sleet ==

== Transpiration- The release of water vapor from plants and soil into the air. ==

== Runoff-The variety of ways by which water moves across the land. This includes both surface runoff and channel runoff. ==

== Evaporation- The transformation of water from liquid to gas phases ==

== Groundwater- water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. ==

== Percolation- concerns the movement and filtering of fluids through porous materials. ==

2. Insert a picture for the water cycle - Alexus Bazen - Alexus Bazen 3. What percentage of all the water on earth is fresh? What percentage of the fresh water is available for drinking? 4. How are humans negatively affecting the water cycle? - Nil Patel- Population affects the water cycle because as population increases, us people will demand fresh clean water that is limited. And so we withdraw it from lakes and ponds. We also affect the water cycle by putting chemicals in it like fertilizers and pesticides, and we damage the water. The Carbon Cycle 5. Describe the short term carbon cycle- Justin Hickman- The carbon cycle is the set of biogeochemical processes by which carbon undergoes chemical reactions, changes form, and moves through different reservoirs on earth, including living organisms. 6. Describe the long term carbon cycle. How are carbon compounds found in plant converted into fossil fuels over millions of years? 7. How are humans negatively affecting the carbon cycle? 8. What are greenhouse gases? What is the greenhouse effect? What is global warming? 9. According to scientists, how are humans causing global warming? __**Scientific Cause of Global Warming-**__ Greenhouse Gases-
 * **The increase in greenhouse gases caused by human activity is often is one of the major causes of global warming.**
 * **The greenhouse gases reabsorb heat reflected from the Earth's surface, making it trap the heat in our atmosphere.**
 * **Over the last several hundred years, humans have been artificially increasing the these gases, mainly carbon dioxide and methane in the Earth's atmosphere.**
 * **These gases build up and prevent additional thermal radiation from leaving the Earth, trapping excess heat.**
 * **Driving cars everywhere and pollution is also a cause.**



The Nitrogen Cycle 10. Describe the following terms in the nitrogen cycle: atmospheric nitrogen, nitriogen fixation and nitrogen fixing bacteria, nitrifications, assimilation, ammonification, denitrification Sarah:  atmospheric nitrogen: the gas that makes up 78 percent of the air we breathe nitriogen fixation:  the natural process, either biological or abiotic, by which [|nitrogen]in the [|atmosphere]is converted into [|ammonia]  nitrogen fixing bacteria: Bacteria that convert nitrogen from the atmosphere or soil solution into ammonia that can then be converted to plant nutrients by nitrite- and nitrate-forming bacteria. <span style="color: #198a8a; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Nitrification: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> the biological [|oxidation]<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">of [|ammonia]<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">with oxygen into [|nitrite] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-indent: -0.25in; widows: 2;"> assimilation: the conversion of nutrient into the fluid or solid substance of the body, by the processes of digestion and absorption ammonification: Production of ammonia or ammonium compounds in the decomposition of organic matter, especially through the action of bacteria denitrification: the conversion of nitrate to nitrogen gas 11. What are the usable forms of nitrogen used by plants?? Answer by Dani: Amonia, Proteins, Nitrate, Methane 12. How are humans negatively impacting the environment by using and making nitrogen compounds? Deja Hadley- humans burn fossil fuels, using synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, and cultivation of legumes all fix nitrogen. This doubles the amount of fixed nitrogen that is pumped into the biosphere.

13. What is eutrophication? How is it caused?-Jayla Grady   -Eutrophication  refers to an increase of nutrients in a body of water. -The two major causes of eutrophication are excess nitrates and excess phosphates in water. Phosphorus Cycle 14. Where is phosphorus found? Where is it not found?-Mattison Higginbotham -Phosphorus can be found on earth in water, soil and sediments. -Phosphorus cannot be found in air in the gaseous state. 15. How does it from rock to living organisms? 16. What are the usable forms of phosphorus?- __Victoria Hurst__
 * The usable forms of phosphorus is red, white, and black phosphorus.