Carbon Cycle Flashcards
Does carbon dissolve more in cold or warm water
Coldwater
Adding more carbon dioxide to seawater makes it more……
Acidic
Give the 6 reservoirs of carbon
Soil Marine life Deep ocean Surface ocean Atmosphere Land plants
The lithosphere accounts for …% of Earth’s carbon
99.9
Give some forms of carbon in the lithosphere
Chalk
Limestone
Calcium Carbonate
What carbon form is in the cryosphere
Permafrost
What is the smallest store of carbon
Biosphere
Describe the slow carbon cycle (6)
- 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
How much carbon was in the atmosphere in 1700 and 2015
1700 = 0.0275%
2015 = 0.0402%
What is the fast carbon cycle
Operates on a daily basis as living things breath and digest food; influences changes over the carbon stores over decades + centuries
What is the slow carbon cycle
Operates over millions of years as a result of lification (converting organic sediments to soil rock) and tectonic plate movements
The stores and flows of carbon occur continually, and until the last 200 years, have been in……………………..
Overall equilibrium
What percentage of carbon emissions is the US responsible for
25% globally - only 5% population
What temperature would we be without carbon dioxide
-18 degrees
Give two carbon emission sinks
Ocean
Land
How many wildfires are in the US annually
Over 100,000
What percentage of all wildfires are caused by people
90%
How are wildfires controlled
Controlled burning
Adding gells to water - limits evaporation
Why have some forests become carbon stores rather than sinks
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)
How do warming temperatures change carbon stores
Warming oceans release carbon dioxide as solubility falls
Unlocking of the land surface that had previously been frozen
Give the impacts of cold conditions on carbon stores
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
How much carbon can a forest store before and 10 years after deforestation
Before = 470 tonnes per hectare
After = 205 tonnes per hectare
How much carbon is absorbed or released before and 10 years after deforestation
Before = 5.9 absorbed
After = 12.8 emmited
Emissions stay the same but absorption decreases with deforestation causing a net increase in carbon emissions
cement is the single largest……………………….producer other than fossil fuels
Carbon dioxide
How does ploughing affect the carbon cycle
More soil exposed to air
More microbial activity
Speeds up decomposition - more Carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
Where do 20% of all global methane emissions originate from
Rice
USA = 20% all methane emissions
What is the carbon budget of oceans
2.7 - sink
