The changes that particular elements undergo as they pass back and forth through the various earth systems and particularly between living and nonliving matter. The elements involved in biogeochemical cycles are hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur.
A combination of all living things on Earth—plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, aquatic life, insects, viruses, single-cell organisms, and so on—as well as all formerly living things that have not yet decomposed.
The deflection of water caused by the rotation of Earth. The Coriolis effect causes water currents to move in circles—clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
A branch of the earth sciences, combining aspects of geology and chemistry, that is concerned with the chemical properties and processes of Earth—in particular, the abundance and interaction of chemical elements and their isotopes.
The upper part of Earth's continental crust, or that portion of the solid earth on which human beings live and which provides them with most of their food and natural resources.
The continuous circulation of water throughout Earth and between various Earth systems.
Areas of the earth sciences concerned with the study of the hydrosphere. Among these disciplines are hydrology, glaciology, and oceanography.
The study of the hydrosphere, including the distribution of water on Earth, its circulation through the hydro-logic cycle, the physical and chemical properties of water, and the interaction between the hydrosphere and other earth systems.
The entirety of Earth's water, excluding water vapor in the atmosphere but including all oceans, lakes, streams, groundwater, snow, and ice.
At one time, chemists used the term organic only in reference to living things. Now the word is applied to most compounds containing carbon, with the exception of carbonates (which are minerals) and oxides, such as carbon dioxide.
Any set of interactions that can be set apart mentally from the rest of the universe for the purposes of study, observation, and measurement.
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