Past exam of the year 2 of the earth sciences (geology) course of the University of Oxford / 2022 / Paper 1 / 10 / a / i

There are four well-mixed reservoirs: Mediterranean surface/deep $(M_s,M_d)$ and Black Sea surface/deep $(B_s,B_d)$. Use the actual drawing’s arrow endpoints: $F_2$ leaves $M_s$, $F_5$ enters $M_d$ from $B_s$, and $F_6$ starts in $M_s$ and enters $B_d$. With $F_i$ as positive water-mass transport rates, the four steady conservation of mass equations areAdding them cancels every internal transport and gives the whole-system requirement $F_1+F_9=F_2$. There is no stated evaporation, precipitation or other external transport to add.

The schematic endpoints are unusual for the conventional two-layer exchange picture: its Gibraltar outflow is drawn in the surface box, and its Black Sea surface inflow descends into the Mediterranean deep box. Moving $F_2$ to $M_d$, $F_5$ to $M_s$, and the source of $F_6$ to $M_d$ would define a different, more conventional idealization. The displayed equations consistently follow the supplied drawing; the same endpoint convention is used in the following two parts.