Carbon cycle basic

Question 1

What is the global carbon cycle?

Answer 1

A series of carbon reservoirs and connected by fluxes

Question 2

What is the fast domain?

Answer 2

• A sub-system of the carbon system
• Rapid reservoir turnouts and large fluxes
• Atmosphere, shallow ocean, vegetation, soils and freshwater components

Question 3

What is the slow domain?

Answer 3

• A sub-system of the carbon system
• Slow reservour turn outs and small fluxes
• Hude carbon stores in rocks, sediments and the deep sea
• 10,000+ years turn out

Question 4

How do the two domains interact?

Answer 4

Natural exchange is small, with <0.3pgc/yr from the fast to slow

Question 5

Currently (Pgc)

Answer 5

• Atmosphere 828
• Living vegetation 650
• Dead vegetation and biomass 1500
• Wetland 700

Question 6

How does terrestrial soil carbon get to the ocean?

Answer 6

• transported from soils by rivers (1.7pgc/yr)
• A fraction is delivered to the oceans as dissolved inorganic carbon (0.9pgc/yr)

Question 7

How is carbon transported to the ocean?

Answer 7

• Solublity pump, cold sea water drags down carbon
• Biological pump, photosynthesis
• Marine carbonate pump, formation of calcerous shells which after the organism has died can be put to use