Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Physical Weathering
Erosion
Earthquakes
Volcanoes
Climate
Sunlight/Amount
Precipitation/Temperature
Water/Specific Heat
Lightning
Chemical Factors Affecting Ecosystems
Salts and Ions
Chemical Weathering
Succession http://gsbs.utmb.edu/microbook/ch041.htm
• Physical Hazards – Many definitions…
exposed to water.
http://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/GHD100203.html#17
• A chemical is a physical hazard by definition if
• compressed gas,
• oxidizer,
5) Climate change
6) Toxic substances
7) Priority risks/maps
http://www.who.int/heli/en/
Interactions with humans and the
environment
The environment in which we live can be
considered as having three fundamental sets
of components:
• Physical [energy of one form or another ]
• Chemical [ matter i.e. substances whether
natural or man-made ]
• Biological [ living things ].
http://www.agius.com/hew/resource/introeh.htm
Interactions with humans and the
environment
http://gsbs.utmb.edu/microbook/ch041.htm
Physical Factors
- Physical Weathering
http://gsbs.utmb.edu/microbook/ch041.htm
Physical Weathering
• Establishes biotic communities by helping large
rocks break into smaller pieces without
changing the kinds of minerals in the rocks.
• It can be compared to tearing a piece of paper
into small pieces.
• The atoms in the tiny pieces of paper are the
same as those in a large piece of paper.
• Physical combined with chemical weathering
help to form the soil.
• Soil is the basis of all life on a planet.
http://gsbs.utmb.edu/microbook/ch041.htm
Erosion
http://gsbs.utmb.edu/microbook/ch041.htm
Erosion:
• is a natural process of nature that carries earth's materials
is carried away.
http://gsbs.utmb.edu/microbook/ch041.htm
Earthquakes
http://gsbs.utmb.edu/microbook/ch041.htm
Earthquakes
- Break up rocks into smaller pieces, thus helping the
process of weathering and the formation of soil
- Earthquakes can change the direction of rivers,
thus changing the location of water availability.
- Earthquakes can cause underground sources of
crude oil to come to the surface of the earth
(Southern California, 1992).
- Oil can kill organisms in biotic communities directly
and by poisoning their water supplies.
- Earthquakes can destroy habitats of organisms either
through direct destruction from the shaking or indirectly
through falling objects (rocks) or tsunami (a large wave)
flooding and destroying plant and animal life when it hits
land.
http://gsbs.utmb.edu/microbook/ch041.htm
Volcanoes
Volcanoes
vegetation.
• Lava flows can cover and destroy habitats and
organisms.
• This forces new biotic communities to develop
which requires many years to develop into a stable
community the hot wind from a volcanic eruption
can push down millions of trees and instantly
kill all life in the path of the wind.
• Volcanic eruptions in oceans can form new islands
and a pioneer community (see below) where the
process of succession begins forming a new
ecosystem.
Climate
earth.
Temperature
TOP DRAWING :
Tropical Forests.
warmer.
of renewal.
Floods and Landslides
• Floods and landslides affect ecosystems by
everyday life.
charged atoms.
1) Pioneer Community :
- After a volcanic eruption or after a glacier recedes
from an area, a barren, rock-filled but lifeless
region exists
2) Intermediate Community :
Wind brings the spores or germinating
• Wind brings the spores or germinating bodies of small plants like lichens
and moss which attach and grow on the rocks.
• Lichens and mosses produce acids which cause the rocks to weather
(break into small pieces)
• Combined with physical weathering, the first soil is formed
• Insects and small animals begin to inhabit the area.
3) Intermediate Community
• Larger plants begin to grow among the small shrubs and herbs and
if better suited to the environment, grow better than the shrubs and
herbs, eventually choking them out of the area
• Weathering continues. Trees that are planted in small areas on rocks
begin growing in the rocks. The roots begin to grow into the rock,
and as they get bigger split the rock in various pieces, helping the
physical weathering and soil formation process.
5) Intermediate Community
• The process continues : other plants and trees begin to grow and
eventually completely replace the older species of life that had
grown there.
• This also applies to animal life.
• One species replaces another only because it is better suited for
growth (because of better use of nutrients, more access to light, etc)
than the current inhabitants of the area.
6) Climax Community
• Finally, those plants (and animals) populate the area that are the best
suited for growth
• This kind of community is very stable and so the process of
succession slows down drastically
• Except for a natural disaster, this kind of community, called a Climax
community, will stay for a long time BECAUSE IT CAN MORE
SUCCESSFULLY COMPETE FOR AVAILABLE RESOURCES WHEN
OTHER ORGANISMS COME INTO THE SAME AREA.
ConclusIo
• The wide range of effects that the
environment may have on human
health, is very far from exhaustive and
many hazards or their effects have not
been mentioned.
• The simplicity of this meant very
important concepts have not been
discussed.
• These include the distinction between mere