Environment- characteristics and types

Our planet is most suitable to sustain life. As citizens of this planet, we must be curious about the functioning of environment as a system. Components of the environment provides many services to satisfy our basic needs. Economic development in human societies takes place by utilizing elements of environment ( resources). With increase in scientific knowledge and the development of sophisticated technology, the scale of exploitation of the resources has increased by many folds. Such development may appear beneficial to human societies but definitely not for the environment as a system. At present, the world is experiencing many environmental problems and are going to increase in near future. Therefore, study of environment is indispensable. Characteristics of Environment 1. Environment is a system consisting of components which are inter- related and interdependent. Components are of two types- abiotic- Air ( Atmosphere), water ( Hydrosphere) and land( Lithosphere) Biotic - plants and animals ( Biosphere) Lithosphere, Rigid, rocky outer layer of the Earth, consisting of the crust and the solid outermost layer of the upper mantle. It extends to a depth of about 60 mi (100 km). It is broken into about a dozen separate, rigid blocks, or plates. Slow convection currents deep within the mantle, generated by radioactive heating of the interior, are believed to cause the lateral movements of the plates (and the continents that rest on top of them) at a rate of several inches per year.

https://www.britannica.com/science/lithosphere Lithosphere is made up of two layers. Continental crust is made up of silica and aluminum and oceanic crust is made up of silica and magnesium. Lithosphere provides the platform for biosphere and create space for hydrosphere.

Hydrosphere includes the water on the surface of the planet, underground and in the air. The distribution of water is highly uneven. There are water surplus and water deficit regions on the earth. Fresh water is only 3% whereas saline water is 97%.

Water cycle or hydrological cycle Water evaporates from surface water bodies such as the ocean and lakes to form clouds. The moisture in clouds ultimately falls as rain or snow, some of which returns back to the ocean, lakes, and rivers. The remainder percolates into the soil where it reacts with organic material and minerals and ultimately moves downwards to form groundwater. The amount that percolates depends strongly on evaporation as well as soil moisture. https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth103/node/888 1. Evaporation- the process in which water gets converted into moisture 2. Transpiration - moisture from plants 3. Condensation- the process in which moisture is converted into water 4. Atmosphere- it is an insulating blanket that protects the life in the biosphere.

Composition of atmosphere Earth's atmosphere is composed of about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 0.93% argon. The remainder, less than 0.1%, contains many small but important trace gases, including water vapor, carbon dioxide, and ozone. All of these trace gases have important effects on the earth's climate. The atmosphere can be divided into vertical layers determined by the way temperature changes with height. The layer closest to the surface is the troposphere, which contains over 80% of the atmospheric mass and nearly all the water vapor. The next layer, the stratosphere, contains most of the atmosphere's ozone, which absorbs high energy radiation from the sun and makes life on the surface possible. Above the stratosphere are the mesosphere and thermosphere. These two layers include regions of charged atoms and molecules, or ions. Called the ionosphere, this region is important to radio communications, since radio waves can bounce off the layer and travel great distances. https://science.jrank.org/pages/590/Atmosphere-Composition-Structure.html

Biosphere- The biosphere is made up of the parts of Earth where life exists. The biosphere extends from the deepest root systems of trees to the dark environment of ocean trenches, to lush rain forests and high mountaintops. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/biosphere/

2. Second important characteristic of the environment - it is a live, dynamic system. It changes its structure and function in time and space. There are agents of erosion - water (rivers), winds, glaciers,sea waves- which erode and deposit sediments and create/ modify landforms. There is growth and decay.

3. Third characteristic of the environment- Interactions and interdependence of the components leads to cyclic co-existence linkages in the dynamic system e.g. carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, water cycle, rock cycle etc.

4. Forth characteristic of the environment- Any change in one component leads to the cyclic changes in all other components over time and space till the change covers the entire system e.g. Forest is one of the components of the natural environment. But due to human impact, deforestation takes place. It leads to soil erosion. Many negative changes take place in the region, such as loss of biodiversity, increase in temperature, reduction in rainfall and finally desertification.

Types of Environment Basically of two types- Natural environment and human or cultural environment

Natural environment has a set of abiotic and biotic components. But the nature of these components depends upon the absolute location on the surface of the earth.

Absolute location- It is mathematically determined with latitudes and longitudes. Location on earth is the most fundamental factor that determines the nature of abiotic and biotic components of the environment. https://youtu.be/5User5KeMn0

Equatorial regions - very hot and humid climate- rainfall throughout the year- rich biodiversity- https://youtu.be/7HfeBP3vaEI Hot and cold Deserts, Taiga etc are different environments that exist on earth. https://youtu.be/6X9fTPSbQ0U

Human environment is super imposed on natural environment and is of different types - economic environment, social environment, political environmental, etc.

Human environment is more complex and with sophisticated technology complexity is increasing and becoming harmful to the functioning of the natural environment .