The Geology and Earth Systems that Sustain Biomes

1/24/2021

The Geology and Earth Systems that Sustain Biomes

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Earth Systems

Hydrosphere (water)
â€‹â€‹Geosphere/ Lithospere (land)
Biosphere (living things)
Atmosphere (air)

Hydrosphere

A hydrosphere is the total amount of water on a planet. The hydrosphere includes water that is on the surface of the planet, underground, and in the air. A planet's hydrosphere can be liquid, vapor, or ice.

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/hydrosphere/

Bodies of Water:

â€‹oceans
lakes
rivers
glaciers
ground water
polar ice caps

The water moves within a water cycle:
Water continually cycles among land, ocean, and atmosphere via transpiration, evaporation, condensation and crystallization, and precipitation, as well as downhill flows on land.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Water

About 2.1% of all of Earth's water is frozen in glaciers. 97.2% is in the oceans and inland seas 2.1% is in glaciers 0.6% is in groundwater and soil moisture less than 1% is in the atmosphere less than 1% is in lakes and rivers less than 1% is in all living plants and animals.

https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/glaciers-and-icecaps?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects

Geosphere

Rocks and minerals

Sediments

https://www.nps.gov/articles/coastal-sediments-material-size.htm

Mountains

Volcanoes

lava
magma

https://earthhow.com/igneous-rocks/

Tectonic Plates

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/plate-boundaries/

Soil Composition

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128092705000145

Soil Particles in a Soil Sample

http://www.plantsgalore.com/care/soil/soil-composition.htm

The Properties of the soil matters to plants and animals

The geology of a Biome will affect the Life there

Rocks are weathered and ERODED to make soil

Physical Weathering

Biological Weathering

Chemical Weathering

https://sciencetrends.com/what-is-chemical-weathering-with-examples/

Rocks release phosphorous

ATP is ADENOSINE TriPhosphate

ATP, Adenosine Triphosphate, is made by mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, ATP is the currency used for cell work. As a living being absorbs or eats phosphorous, it breaks down during digestion, and is used to assemble ATP. We need oxygen to release ATP during the electron transport chain part of the process of ATP production. Rocks release phosphorous as they erode, it goes into plants, and then goes into the food web.

https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i21/New-role-cells-suggested-ATP.html

The Nitrogen gets there thanks to the nitrogen cycle

78% of the air we breathe is nitrogen, however, the nitrogen that we breathe in does not work for our cells to build proteins, we need to get it from our plants or creatures that ate plants.

Nitrogen follows a cycle:

Nitrogen in the air falls to the soil in rain.
In the soil, bacteria on the roots of nitrogen fixing plants combine the nitrogen with hydrogen to make ammonia, this is called nitrogen fixation.
Lighting also does this work
The ammonia is combined with oxygen by additional bacteria, this is called nitrification
The nitrogen is now nitrite
Nitrifying bacteria convert nitrite to nitrate
Plants can absorb nitrate, this is called assimilation
Some nitrate is consumed by denitrifying bacteria and they release nitrogen to the atmosphere.
Some nitrogen returns to the atmosphere.
When an animal poops or dies, nitrogen is released into the soil and back into the nitrogen cycle.