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all of carbon cycle Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the carbon cycle?

A

a process by which carbon is cycled between the atmosphere, land, water, and organisms

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2
Q

What type of system is the CC?

A

closed

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3
Q

What is a carbon store?

A

a place where carbon is accumulated and stored

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4
Q

What is a carbon flux?

A

transfer of carbon from one store to another

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5
Q

What are the four carbon stores?

A

atmosphere
hydrosphere
biosphere
lithosphere

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6
Q

What is anthropogenic activity?

A

activity that is associated with human responsibility

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7
Q

What are examples of the fast carbon cycle?

A

photosynthesis
respiration
volcanic outgassing

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8
Q

What are examples of the slow carbon cycle?

A

weathering and erosion
sedimentation and fossilisation

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9
Q

What are key processes in the carbon cycle?

A

weathering
decomposition
transportation
sedimentation

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10
Q

What is weathering?

A

the chemical and physical processes that break down rock at Earth’s surface

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11
Q

What is decomposition?

A

Organisms die and decompose, which returns the CO2 back into the atmosphere

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12
Q

What is transportation?

A

the movement of sediment from one place to another

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13
Q

What is sedimentation?

A

the process in which soil particles and decaying organic matter accumulate in layers , contributing to the formation of sedimentary rock

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14
Q

What is sequestration?

A

the natural storage of carbon due to physical or biological processes

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15
Q

What is volcanic outgassing?

A

the release of gases into the atmosphere during volcanic eruptions - contains C02

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16
Q

What is thermohaline circulation?

A

movement of water due to the difference in temperatures and densities

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17
Q

What are the changes in the the thermohaline circulation?

A
  • Warm water cools at the poles
  • Cooler water contains higher concentration of CO2
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18
Q

What are carbon cycle pumps?

A
  • the processes operating in oceans to circulate and store carbon
  • there are three sorts: biological, carbonate and physical
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19
Q

What is the biological pump?

A
  • Phytoplankton on the surface take up the sunlight to photosynthesise with
  • This starts the food chain , as they are eaten other animals absorb the C02 they had
  • C02 is released back into the atmosphere and the ocean - most being recycled to the surface
  • 0.1% of the C02 falls to the bottom as the phytoplankton die, then stored at bottom of ocean
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20
Q

What is the carbonate pump?

A
  • Organisms use calcium carbonate as a way to make their shells and skeletons stronger
  • When these organisms die, these shells may dissolve in the water and be held as a store
  • Or they may fall to the bottom of the ocean as a start of sedimentary rock formation
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21
Q

What is the physical pump?

A
  • Colder waters hold more C02 (concentration is 10% higher in cold water)
  • warmer water releases C02 to the atmosphere , whilst colder water absorbs C02
  • Thermohaline circulation moves water from warmer areas to colder areas where it can store 50% more C02
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22
Q

How much terrestrial carbon does the Amazon sequester?

A

17%

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23
Q

What is terrestrial sequestration?

A

Use of plants to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and store it as carbon in the stems and roots of plants as well as the soil

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24
Q

What are diurnal fluxes?

A
  • During the day the fluxes are positive from the atmosphere to the ecosystem (sun for photosynthesis)
  • During the night they are negative, loss from ecosystem to the atmosphere
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25
Q

What are seasonal fluxes?

A
  • Winter means less plants are growing therefore there is more atmospheric C02
  • Summer and spring allows for plants to grow therefore less atmospheric C02
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26
Q

What is the greenhouse effect?

A
  • Radiation from the sun to the atmosphere
  • 31% reflected by the clouds, 69% absorbed
  • Of the 69%, 69% is re-radiated to space as long wave radiation
  • However this radiation can be trapped by the greenhouse gases acting as a belt around the earth, stopping the radiation from escaping
  • therefore warming the earth
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27
Q

What is positive feedback (global temperatures)?

A

Global warming causes ice to melt, this releases gases that were stored under the ice - these can contribute to the greenhouse effect which causes global warming

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28
Q

What are eight factors that affect how much energy a country consumes?

A
  • standard of living
  • climate
  • cost
  • environmental policies
  • public perceptions
  • economic development
  • availability
  • technology
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29
Q

How does standard of living affect energy consumption?

A

If people would be able to afford the cost of using the energy, they would most often use it

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30
Q

How does the climate affect energy consumption?

A

May use more energy in colder climates as they need more energy to heat homes

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31
Q

How does cost affect energy consumption?

A

The cost of exploitation , processing (turning into usable energy) and the cost of delivering

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32
Q

How does the environmental priorities affect energy consumption?

A

May use less non-renewable energy due to the byproducts and therefore may find other, less energy intense ways

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33
Q

How does public perceptions affect energy consumption?

A

Just Stop Oil and other protestors may intervene with the consumption of energy

34
Q

How does economic development affect energy consumption?

A

The costs of energy may be perceived as unaffordable in 1 country but fair in another

35
Q

How does availibility affect energy consumption?

A

If a country has access to resources and is able to extract

36
Q

How does technology affect energy consumption?

A

having the right tools to extract and then deliver the energy

37
Q

How much bigger is the USA’s energy consumption than France?

A

10x

38
Q

How much of the USA’s energy is non-renewables?

A

82%

39
Q

How much of the France’s energy is non-renewables?

A

50%

40
Q

How much of the USA’s energy is renewables?

A

10%

41
Q

How much of the France’s energy is renewables?

A

9%

42
Q

How much of the USA’s energy is nuclear?

A

8%

43
Q

How much of the France’s energy is nuclear?

A

41%

44
Q

How much of the USA’s energy is imported?

A

15%

45
Q

How much of the France’s energy is imported?

A

46%

46
Q

What country is the 2nd largest producer of gas?

A

Russia

47
Q

Where did 3 out of 4 of Russia’s gas pipelines go through?

A

Ukraine

48
Q

What happened to the Russian gas pipelines that went through Ukraine?

A

they were destroyed

49
Q

When did the Canadian Tar sands start commercial use?

A

1967

50
Q

How much do the Canadians tar sands produce towards Canada’s oil output?

A

40%

51
Q

Why do the Canadian tar sands have large environmental impacts

A

requires strip mining

52
Q

Why are the Canadian Tar sands vulnerable to oil price fluctuations?

A

extraction is expensive

53
Q

How much did USA Shale Gas contribute to gas supply in 2000?

A

1%

54
Q

How much did USA Shale Gas contribute to gas supply in 2015?

A

25%

55
Q

What does fracking do?

A

releases oil and gas thats otherwise hard to get to

56
Q

What are the environmental problems with fracking?

A
  • releases airborne pollutants
  • can contaminate groundwater
  • fraccidents = explosions and deaths
57
Q

When were the Brazilian Deepwater Oil reserves discovered?

A

2006

58
Q

Where were the Brazilian Deepwater Oil reserves discovered?

A

200km offshore

59
Q

Why is the Brazilian Deepwater Oil reserves risky?

A
  • risky drilling so far offshore
  • hazardous access by ship due to rough seas
  • reservoirs contain huge amounts of toxic, flammable gases
60
Q

What is an example of a Brazilian Deepwater Oil rig exploding?

A

Deepwater Horizon in Mexico, 2010

61
Q

What are biofuels?

A

Fuel derived from crops that can be converted into forms of ethanol and used as fuel

62
Q

What are the benefits to Brazilian Biofuels?

A
  • 90% of new vehicles can be fuelled by sugar canes turned into ethanol
  • reduction of CO2 emissions
63
Q

What are the costs of Brazilian biofuels?

A
  • deforestation in order to make sense for sugar cane farms or cattle, could reverse effects of using biofuels
  • Growing crops for non-food purposes whilst there is an increasingly hungry world
64
Q

What is carbon capture?

A

capturing the C02 that is released when burning fossil fuels and storing it underground

65
Q

What are the benefits of carbon capture?

A
  • Lower emissions as held in a store
  • Provision of jobs
66
Q

What are the costs of carbon capture?

A
  • Uncertainty if trapped CO2 stays underground
  • Expensive due to complex technology needed
  • Risky for the environment and can contaminate groundwater reserves
67
Q

What is nuclear energy?

A

the potential energy stored in the nucleus of an atom

68
Q

What are the benefits of nuclear energy?

A
  • Does not add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere
  • Can generate a lot of energy from a small amount of material
69
Q

What are the costs of nuclear energy?

A
  • Fukushima and Chernobyl events can be very destructive to people and the whole area
  • Very toxic radioactive substance with a very long half life
70
Q

What are Hydrogen Fuel Cells?

A

A combination of hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, heat, and water

71
Q

What are benefits of Hydrogen Fuel Cells?

A
  • Source of heat and electricity
  • Power source for electrical vehicles
  • Produces no C02
72
Q

What are the costs of Hydrogen Fuel Cells?

A
  • Hydrogen is never found by itself so needs to be split up from other compounds
  • Expensive for the technology and split hydrogen up
73
Q

Why are energy importers at risk?

A
  • Possible natural disasters that disrupt the flow of oil
  • Military and civil unrest getting in the way and causing conflicts (e.g pipelines from Russia)
74
Q

What are ways to help regulate atmospheric CO2?

A
  • Afforestation
  • Reduce Carbon emissions
  • Carbon tax
  • Reduce effects of CC (can lead to melting of frozen carbon stores)
75
Q

What is afforestation?

A

planting trees in new areas

76
Q

What is reforestation?

A

planting trees to replace lost forestland

77
Q

What is ocean acidification?

A

Decreasing pH of ocean waters due to absorption of excess atmospheric CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels

78
Q

What can ocean acidification lead to?

A
  • coral bleaching
  • reefs not being able to grow
79
Q

What is the enhanced greenhouse effects?

A

Rising global temperatures due to greenhouse gases being put into the atmosphere because of human activities

80
Q

What does the Kuznet’s Curve show?

A

1 - As countries start to develop, there is a lot of environmental degradation due to prioritising development
2 - Countries get to a point where they hit peak environmental degradation as they develop more and become a developed country
3 - From this point, more ideas and awareness to environment is shown and new ways of producing energy and sustainable living becomes more abundant in developed countries

81
Q

What are the global warming effects on carbon cycle?

A
  • Stored Carbon for thousands of years released due to melting of ice caps
  • Forest fires and wildfires release carbon that is stored by soil and trees
  • Increased ocean temperatures means less carbon can be stores (cooler waters store 50% more)
82
Q

How does Climate Change effect the Amazon?

A
  • Amazon is a large store of carbon due to all the trees taking in the carbon to photosynthesise
  • Deforestation has caused for evapotranspiration rates to decrease
  • With global temperatures warming anyway, there has been an increase in wildfires, which release co2 back to atmosphere again

geography (6 decks)

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