Earth's Resources: overview of SQA National 5 Environmental Science Area 2
An overview of the Earth's Resources area of SQA National 5 Environmental Science, covering the four Earth systems and biomes, the water cycle and water resources, soils, and weather, climate and the atmosphere, with study tips and links to each key area.
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Earth's Resources is the second of the three areas of SQA National 5 Environmental Science. It studies the Earth as a set of interacting systems and the natural resources they provide: the rocks and soil of the geosphere, the water of the hydrosphere, and the gases of the atmosphere, along with the climate they create. This page maps the key areas and shows how they connect.
The four key areas
- The spheres and biomes
- The geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere and how they interact, the global distribution of biomes, and the climate factors (temperature and precipitation) that determine them.
- The water cycle and water resources
- The processes of the water cycle, sources of fresh water, water as a limited resource, and the treatment of drinking water and waste water, plus threats to water quality.
- Soils
- Soil formation by physical, chemical and biological weathering, the components of a fertile soil, the main soil types and their properties, and the causes and prevention of soil degradation.
- Weather, climate and the atmosphere
- The composition of the atmosphere, the difference between weather and climate and how each is measured, the natural and enhanced greenhouse effect, and the causes and consequences of climate change.
How to study Earth's Resources
- Keep the four spheres straight. Know what each contains and practise describing how they interact, because interaction marks are common.
- Learn the cycles and stages in order. The water cycle and water-treatment stages reward a correct sequence.
- Distinguish weather from climate. This pairing appears often, as does the natural versus enhanced greenhouse effect.
- Link resources to human use and impact. Many marks connect soil, water and the atmosphere to how people use and damage them.
For the official course specification
The SQA (now Qualifications Scotland) publishes the full National 5 Environmental Science course specification, specimen and past papers, and marking instructions at sqa.org.uk. Always revise from the current specification and SQA past papers.