Lec 5 Ch 9, 10
Ch 9 - Hydrosphere - H
2
O in many forms
•surf wtr
•ground wtr
•water vapor
•ice
I. Common but unique
•most abundant substance on earth, and most distinctive Fig 9-1
•water theoretically recycled over and over - a finite but non-depleted resource
•different states of water Fig 9-2 , energy changes occur during changes in state (energy consumed or given off by H
2
O)
•very unusual properties, including
• high heat capacity
•tendency to expand rather than contract upon freezing
•ability to “climb upward” (capillary action)
•great dissolving power - a “weak acid”
II. Hydrologic Cycle Fig 9-5
•most H
2
O is in storage, locked away in ocean, grdwater, lakes, etc
•remaining 1% is involved with moving through the hydrologic cycle, from one storage area to the next

•components of hydro cycle involve surf-to-air and air
-to-surf mvmt, land-to-sea mvmt, mvmt of grdwtr too
III. World Ocean
•broken up into Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic Oceans by name, but it’s all one
•Pacific biggest, Arctic smallest Fig 9-7
A. Characteristics - main things we measure are salinity, temp, density
•Chemistry (sainity)
•3.5% (by weight) total dissolved solids (aka salinity), mostly Na and Cl
•Salinity varies from place to place:
•higher the evap, greater the salinity,
•higher the freshwater recharge (heavy rainfall or mouth of a river), lower the salinity
•rule of thumb - low nr equator, higher in subtropics (dry, desert), lower again nr poles
•Temperature - warmest nr equator, coldest nr poles
•ranges from 80 deg F to 28 deg F
•western sides of oceans tend to be warmest
(water warms along equator, Coriolis effect turns it N or S at edge of ocean basin
•Density - product of temp and salinity - usu densest at poles, lighter at equator
B. Movement

•tides - mostly vertical motion
•currents - mostly horizontal motion
•waves - energy passing through with little water displacement
•tides - a new way to visualize…Earth spinning inside an elliptical “water jacket” of ocean water pulled by gravity from the moon and sun
IV. Permanent Ice (glacial)
•2nd largest storage reservoir Fig 9-8
• 10% of earth land surface covered by ice! (a lot)
•ice packs at N and S poles double in size in winter
V. Surface Waters
•only 0.25% of earth moisture supply, but important to humans
•Lakes
•need a natural basin
•need inflow of water to keep basin filled
• Fig 9-12 shows distribution by size
•Swamps and Marshes
•distinguished by trees in swamps, grasses in marshes
•Rivers and Streams
•very important, but small volumetrically
•conduits for mvmt from land to sea Fig 9-18

•interesting stat -only 24 rivers produce half of all stream discharge in world, and Amazon alone produces ___?
VI. Groundwater (underground)
•2.5 times more water than in lakes & streams
•important parameters include:
•porosity (volume of open space)
•permeability (connectedness of open space)
•typical cross section of zones Fig 9-19
•aeration (unsaturated)
•saturated zone beneath water table
•confined aquifer (under pressure)
Ch 10 - Biosphere
•lots of modification by humans
•animals more difficult to observe than plants
I. geographic approach to study of organisms
•focus on certain aspects, not everything about organisms
•organisms much more complex than inorganic things like rocks (!)
•geographers focus on broad patterns, look for significance
II. Biogeochemical cycles

A. flows of energy, water, and nutrients control organisms
•first step is photosynthesis, conversion of water
+ sunlight + CO
2
to carbohydrates + oxygen
•done by green plants chemical energy then in the form of carbohydrates, ready to pass on to whatever eats the plant, and then whatever eats the animal that ate the first animal….
Fig 10-3
B. Hydrologic cycle
•water v. important to the biosphere
•much water in the mass of an org ( table 1 )
•carries nutrients, wastes
C. Carbon Cycles
•huge no. of carbon compounds (how many??)
•the one we look at primarily is the CO
2
cycle (Fig
10-4)
• atmosphere to sugars to decomposition abck to atmosphere
•interesting spin to global warming - fossil fuel burning releases the carbon originally
“fixed” in hydrocarbon deposits, and this carbon when put in the atmosphere can combine with O
2
to produce CO
2
- this is how we get excess CO
2
placed into the modern environment

D. Oxygen cycle (Fig 10-5)
•earth not always rich in oxygen - earliest forms of life couldn’t tolerate it
•O
2
mostly a by-product of photosynthetic equation - what’s produced along with sugars when energy, water, and CO
2 join up
•most O
2 in atmos comes from that found in water, liberated during photosynthesis
E. Nitrogen Cycle Fig 10-6
•most N is fixed in compounds that ultimately can be broken down, then N goes to atmosphere; cycles back into plants and micro-organisms from the atmosphere
•humans have changed the balance - fertilizers and certain plants such as alfalfa and clover and soybeans have resulted in excess N, espec in lakes and streams. Excess N interferes with the
O
2
supply (because the nutrient causes excess plant growth, whose respiration takes up O
2
)
II. Food Chains
•like nutrient cycling, food energy is cycled too Fig 10-
7, 10-8
•More accurate is concept of food pyramid
Fig 10-8
•10-fold loss of energy as it is passed along from herbivore to carnivore

III. Classification
•anatomical similarities of plants, animals (by
Linnaeus) for biologists for specifics
•we look at broad patterns of flora (plants) and fauna
(animals) as geographers
IV. Ecosystems - a “systems approach” to study
•consider the entire association of plants, animals, physical environment, and fow of energy through the system Fig 10-10
•Geographers use concept of biome to classify
“recognizable assemblages”
•primary vegetation is the key to classification
•biome names:
•tropical rainforest
•desert
•tundra
•etc
•often assoc. with specific climates and particular animals too
V. Environmental relationships
•recognize the scale factors - global vs local
•locally, always find wet spots in a dry climate and vice-versa
•remember the idea of competition for space by both plants and animals - a driving mechanism in the evolution of an area
•limited resources:
•light

•water
•nutrients
•shelter
A. Climatic factors exert much influence on biota
•light
•competition for it changes growth patterns
•Photoperiodic effect - amt light received daily - changes through year
•Temperature
•big factor in survival - very few species in cold climates
•Wind
•differing effects, but primarily dries out an area
•Other environmental controls on biota:
•edaphic (soil) conditions - v. impor to vegetation
•topography - slope angle, direction - v. impor to vegetation
•catastrophic events - floods, fires, etc.
•Predictable correlations:
•climate and vegetation
•example - forests
•trees need moisture, so climatically they need lots precip
•trees screen out light from forest floor

•areas that have grasses and not too many trees are those that receive only modest precipitation
•logic here? - if there was enough moisture for trees to flourish, they’d be there. If they were there, they’d screen out light and grasses couldn’t grow
•example - fur-bearing animals
•many in high latitudes
•some in water
•diverse habitats
•possible conclusion/correlation:
•fur-bearing animals tend to flourish in cool water and cool land climate, but they are found elsewhere too.
Correlation here not a sstrong or unique as it it for trees.