Carbon Cycle

Question 1

Does carbon dissolve more in cold or warm water

Answer 1

Coldwater

Question 2

Adding more carbon dioxide to seawater makes it more……

Answer 2

Acidic

Question 3

Give the 6 reservoirs of carbon

Answer 3

Soil
Marine life
Deep ocean
Surface ocean 
Atmosphere 
Land plants

Question 4

The lithosphere accounts for …% of Earth’s carbon

Answer 4

99.9

Question 5

Give some forms of carbon in the lithosphere

Answer 5

Chalk
Limestone
Calcium Carbonate

Question 6

What carbon form is in the cryosphere

Answer 6

Permafrost

Question 7

What is the smallest store of carbon

Answer 7

Biosphere

Question 8

Describe the slow carbon cycle (6)

Answer 8

• Tectonic activity at plate margins create uplift of thrust mountains, creating carbon-rich sedimentary rocks to surface weathering and erosion
• Atmospheric carbon dioxide readily reacts with water droplets in clouds to form carbonic acid
• Acid rain falls on calcium carbonate rocks - calcium bicarbonate (soluble) flows into the sea
• This breaks down into component ions where marine creatures extract calcium carbonate to make shells. Upon death, shell remains fall to the ocean bed and accumulates into thick deposits rich in calcium carbonate
• Over millions of years of heat and pressure, sedimentary rocks develop and move as part of an Ocean tectonic plate
• Subduction - sedimentary rocks taken into the mantle where they melt, Carbon ejected into the atmosphere at surface volcanoes

Question 9

How much carbon was in the atmosphere in 1700 and 2015

Answer 9

1700 = 0.0275%

2015 = 0.0402%

Question 10

What is the fast carbon cycle

Answer 10

Operates on a daily basis as living things breath and digest food; influences changes over the carbon stores over decades + centuries

Question 11

What is the slow carbon cycle

Answer 11

Operates over millions of years as a result of lification (converting organic sediments to soil rock) and tectonic plate movements

Question 12

The stores and flows of carbon occur continually, and until the last 200 years, have been in……………………..

Answer 12

Overall equilibrium

Question 13

What percentage of carbon emissions is the US responsible for

Answer 13

25% globally - only 5% population

Question 14

What temperature would we be without carbon dioxide

Answer 14

-18 degrees

Question 15

Give two carbon emission sinks

Answer 15

Ocean

Land

Question 16

How many wildfires are in the US annually

Answer 16

Over 100,000

Question 17

What percentage of all wildfires are caused by people

Answer 17

90%

Question 18

How are wildfires controlled

Answer 18

Controlled burning

Adding gells to water - limits evaporation

Question 19

Why have some forests become carbon stores rather than sinks

Answer 19

Forest fires release more carbon than they capture

Trees decompose/burn - returning the carbon into the atmosphere

Increased frequency destroying older trees and replacing them with younger ones (cant store as much carbon)

Question 20

How do warming temperatures change carbon stores

Answer 20

Warming oceans release carbon dioxide as solubility falls

Unlocking of the land surface that had previously been frozen

Question 21

Give the impacts of cold conditions on carbon stores

Answer 21

Chemical weathering = more active because cold water can hold more carbon dioxide

Forest coverage would have been very different in terms of area and geographical location

Decomposers = less effective

Question 22

How much carbon can a forest store before and 10 years after deforestation

Answer 22

Before = 470 tonnes per hectare

After = 205 tonnes per hectare

Question 23

How much carbon is absorbed or released before and 10 years after deforestation

Answer 23

Before = 5.9 absorbed

After = 12.8 emmited

Emissions stay the same but absorption decreases with deforestation causing a net increase in carbon emissions

Question 24

cement is the single largest……………………….producer other than fossil fuels

Answer 24

Carbon dioxide

Question 25

How does ploughing affect the carbon cycle

Answer 25

More soil exposed to air
More microbial activity
Speeds up decomposition - more Carbon dioxide into the atmosphere

Question 26

Where do 20% of all global methane emissions originate from

Answer 26

Rice

USA = 20% all methane emissions

Question 27

What is the carbon budget of oceans

Answer 27

2.7 - sink