10 Geography

5. a measure of the amount of salt present in the soil.
7. a layer of gases with a large proportion of ozone, high in the atmosphere that protects the earth from harmful amounts of the sun’s rays.
9. a complex community made up of living organisms that interact with each other and their environment; an abbreviation of ecological system.
10. The variety of living organism (e.g. plants, animals, bacteria and fungi) found in the environment.
12. a change in global or regional climate patterns; in particular, a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.

1. the loss of productivity and the decline in the fertility of land-based environments as a result of human activities.
2. a fuel made from the decomposed (fossilised) remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago (e.g. coal, oil, gas).
3. the transformation of fertile land into relatively dry desert.
4. a term used to describe a range of important resources, processes and benefits that health ecosystems provide to humans.
6. all the gases that surround the earth.
8. any substance released into the environment that causes damage.
11. a method used to dispose of rubbish by burying itl also used to describe the place where rubbish is buried.
13. an underground water supply consisting of a layer of rock or other permeable materials that hold water.