Across
- 1. tectonic plate collision forcing up rock layers that form mountains; phosphorus cycle can start all over again with weathering and release of phosphate from rock
- 5. conversion of the nitrogen in the soil (nitrate) into nitrous oxide which returns to the atmosphere via bacteria
- 7. soil bacteria, microbes, and decomposers converting waste back into ammonia and returning it to the soil
- 8. the land area that delivers runoff, sediment, and any dissolved substances to a stream
- 10. when plants obtain nitrogen (ammonia or nitrate) through from the soil, animals either eat those plants or other animals
- 11. pressure from the confined aquifer pushes water up at a location without a pump
- 12. process of N2 gas (unusable by organisms) into biologically available (useable by plants) ammonia or nitrate, done via lightning storms or nitrogen-fixing bacteria in soil or in symbiotic relationship with plant root nodules convert N2 into ammonia
Down
- 2. when ammonium is transformed into nitrite and the nitrate through bacteria in soil
- 3. aquifers with a permeable water table
- 4. aquifers bounded above and below by less permeable beds of rock where the water is confined under pressure
- 6. this cycle is more prolonged than all the other cycles due to this element not having a gaseous form, along with all the time it takes for weathering to occur
- 8. the level below which the ground is saturated with water
- 9. underground caverns and porous layers of sand, gravel, or bedrock through which groundwater flows