Carbon Cycle

Question 1

Carbon Sink

Answer 1

Absorbs > releases

Question 2

Carbon Source

Answer 2

Releases > absorbs

Question 3

Lithosphere as a carbon store

Answer 3

99.9%
Sedimentary rock
0.004% fossil fuels
Leaf litter
Humic substances

Question 4

Hydrosphere as a carbon store

Answer 4

0.04%
Dissolved in rivers, lakes, oceans
96% in twilight zone

Question 5

Cryosphere as a carbon store

Answer 5

0.001%

Permafrost

Question 6

Atmosphere as a carbon store

Answer 6

0.001%

CO2 and methane

Question 7

Biosphere as a carbon store

Answer 7

0.004%
Vegetation 
Plant litter
Soil hummus
Peat
Animals

Question 8

7 Carbon Flows

Answer 8

Respiration 
Photosynthesis 
Decomposition 
Weathering 
Combustion 
Ocean Uptake / Loss
Sequestration

Question 9

Local scale example

Answer 9

Tree

Question 10

Sere example

Answer 10

Deciduous woodland

Question 11

Continental example

Answer 11

Geological

Question 12

3 Natural Changes in Carbon Cycle overtime

Answer 12

Wildfires
Volcanoes
Orbital Changes

Question 13

4 Human Changes in Carbon Cycle overtime

Answer 13

Deforestation
Farming
Urbanisation
Fossil fuel combustion

Question 14

Urbanisation key facts

Answer 14

2% of land
47% of carbon emissions
97% of anthropogenic emissions
Cement: 2-5% of anthropogenic emissions

Question 15

Percentage of US methane emissions due to cattle rumination

Answer 15

20%

Question 16

Carbon Budget

Answer 16

Difference between inputs and outputs of carbon

Links to carbon sources and sinks

Question 17

Carbon impacts on the Atmosphere

Answer 17

Warming
More intense storms
Increased ghg’s and change in albedos reduces radiative forcing, further temp increase
Regional climate: deforestation= drier and less humid

Question 18

Carbon impacts on the Land

Answer 18

Increased photosynthesis, longer growing seasons
Increased rate of decay, increases cycling of biospheric carbon + more respiration
Increased wildfire frequency
Decreased cryospheric stores as permafrost melts- increases decomposition

Question 19

Carbon impacts on the Oceans

Answer 19

Increased acidity- marine life- food source
Melts sea ice, reduces amount of radiation reflected, increases temperature
Ocean salinity decreases, more freshwater from ice melt, slows down large scale ocean currents, climate impacts
Warm water holds less dissolved CO2

Question 20

Main Carbon Flows in a Tree

Answer 20

Photosynthesis
Sequestration (biological sequestrator)
Decomposition
Respiration

Question 21

Main Carbon Transfers in a Deciduous Woodland

Answer 21

Rock exposed- weathering
Vegetation colonises- photosynthesis + respiration
Leaf litter- decomposition
Animals- circulate carbon
Eventually environmental equilibrium- climatic climax

Question 22

Main Carbon Transfers at a Geological Scale

Answer 22

Weathering- slowly dissolves compounds
Dead organisms compacted on seabed- sedimentary rock
Volcanoes- eruptions