biosphere.pdf

PRINCIPLES OF GEOGRAPHY SPHERES BACHELORS OF SCIENCES HONS IN SOCIAL STUDIES IN INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE BSSI 11033 FIRST YEAR FIRST SEMESTER Ms. Chinthani Senavirathna...

PRINCIPLES OF GEOGRAPHY SPHERES BACHELORS OF SCIENCES HONS IN SOCIAL STUDIES IN INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE BSSI 11033 FIRST YEAR FIRST SEMESTER Ms. Chinthani Senavirathna B.A. (Sp) in Geography, M.Sc. in DRRD Department of Indigenous Social Sciences Faculty of Indigenous Social Sciences and Management Studies GAMPAHA WICKRAMARACHCHI UNIVERSITY OF INDIGENOUS MEDICINE ©  HYDROSPHERIC SYSTEM  The entire mass of water of the Earth found in the oceans, seas, lakes, reservoirs, and rivers as surface water and beneath the surface as groundwater is called the hydrosphere. GAMPAHA WICKRAMARACHCHI UNIVERSITY OF INDIGENOUS MEDICINE © GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF WATER AND ITS COMPOSITION GAMPAHA WICKRAMARACHCHI UNIVERSITY OF INDIGENOUS MEDICINE © Source: www.emaze.com/water on earth  FUNCTIONING OF THE HYDROSPHERIC SYSTEM  Water can be found in solid and liquid states in the lithosphere, as water vapour in the atmosphere and in animals and plants in the biosphere.  This water circulates cyclically between the lithosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. The circulation of water within the geo-system is known as the hydrological cycle.  Earth is considered as a unique planet due to the availability of water needed to sustain life  Water is composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.  Water is an inorganic compound.  Water received by the Earth results from the interaction between the atmosphere and Earth’s surface.  This process has several stages. They are the main components of the hydrological Cycle.  The hydrological cycle is the circulation of water from one place to another aided by solar energy. GAMPAHA WICKRAMARACHCHI UNIVERSITY OF INDIGENOUS MEDICINE ©  FUNCTIONING OF THE HYDROSPHERIC SYSTEM  Components of the hydrological cycle: 1. Evaporation/Transpiration 2. Condensation 3. Precipitation 4. Run-off 5. Percolation and infiltration https://www.lenntech.com/periodic/hydrological-cycle.htm GAMPAHA WICKRAMARACHCHI UNIVERSITY OF INDIGENOUS MEDICINE © GAMPAHA WICKRAMARACHCHI UNIVERSITY OF INDIGENOUS MEDICINE ©  WATER CYCLE  The water cycle shows the continuous movement of water within the Earth and atmosphere.  Evaporation - Process by which an element or compound transitions from its liquid state to its gaseous state below the temperature at which it boils; in particular, the process by which liquid water enters the atmosphere as water vapour in the water cycle.  Transpiration - In botany, a plant’s loss of water, mainly through the stomata of leaves. Stomatal openings are necessary to admit carbon dioxide to the leaf interior and to allow oxygen to escape during photosynthesis.  Condensation - Deposition of a liquid or a solid from its vapour, generally upon a surface that is cooler than the adjacent gas.  Precipitation - All liquid and solid water particles that fall from clouds and reach the ground. These particles include drizzle, rain, snow, snow pellets, ice crystals, and hail.  Runoff – In hydrology, the quantity of water discharged in surface streams. Runoff includes not only the waters that travel over the land surface and through channels to reach a stream but also interflow, the water that infiltrates the soil surface and travels by means of gravity toward a stream channel (always above the main groundwater level) and eventually empties into the channel. GAMPAHA WICKRAMARACHCHI UNIVERSITY OF INDIGENOUS MEDICINE © BIOSPHERE  The biosphere is made up of the parts of Earth where life exists—all ecosystems.  The biosphere extends from the deepest root systems of trees, to the dark environments of ocean trenches, to lush rain forests, high mountaintops, and transition zones like this one, where ocean and terrestrial ecosystems meet. GAMPAHA WICKRAMARACHCHI UNIVERSITY OF INDIGENOUS MEDICINE © BIOSPHERE  Scientists describe Earth in terms of spheres. The solid surface layer of Earth is the lithosphere. The atmosphere is the layer of air that stretches above the lithosphere. The Earth’s water—on the surface, in the ground, and in the air—makes up the hydrosphere.  Since life exists on the ground, in the air, and in the water, the biosphere overlaps all these spheres. Although the biosphere measures about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from top to bottom, almost all life exists between about 500 meters (1,640 feet) below the ocean’s surface to about six kilometers (3.75 miles) above sea level. GAMPAHA WICKRAMARACHCHI UNIVERSITY OF INDIGENOUS MEDICINE © ORIGIN OF THE BIOSPHERE  The biosphere has existed for about 3.5 billion years.  The biosphere’s earliest life-forms, called prokaryotes, survived without oxygen.  Ancient prokaryotes included single-celled organisms such as bacteria and archaea.  Some prokaryotes developed a unique chemical process.  They were able to use sunlight to make simple sugars and oxygen out of water and carbon dioxide, a process called photosynthesis.  These photosynthetic organisms were so plentiful that they changed the biosphere.  Over a long period of time, the atmosphere developed a mix of oxygen and other gases that could sustain new forms of life. GAMPAHA WICKRAMARACHCHI UNIVERSITY OF INDIGENOUS MEDICINE © ORIGIN OF THE BIOSPHERE  The addition of oxygen to the biosphere allowed more complex life-forms to evolve.  Millions of different plants and other photosynthetic species developed. Animals, which consume plants (and other animals) evolved.  Bacteria and other organisms evolved to decompose, or break down, dead animals and plants.  The biosphere benefits from this food web. The remains of dead plants and animals release nutrients into the soil and ocean. These nutrients are reabsorbed by growing plants.  This exchange of food and energy makes the biosphere a self-supporting and self-regulating system.  The biosphere is sometimes thought of as one large ecosystem—a complex community of living and nonliving things functioning as a single unit. More often, however, the biosphere is described as having many ecosystems. GAMPAHA WICKRAMARACHCHI UNIVERSITY OF INDIGENOUS MEDICINE © ACTIVITY  Write on the topic of “Biosphere reserve”. GAMPAHA WICKRAMARACHCHI UNIVERSITY OF INDIGENOUS MEDICINE ©  Thank you GAMPAHA WICKRAMARACHCHI UNIVERSITY OF INDIGENOUS MEDICINE ©