Carbon facts Flashcards
What is a petagram (Pg)?
One petagram, also known as a gigatonne (Gt) is equal to a trillion kilograms or 1 billion tonnes
How long does it take carbon to enter and leave rocks and sediments in the geological cycle?
100,000 years
How old are some of the fossil fuels we use today?
Up to 300 million years old
How many tonnes of carbon are stored in the UK’s fossil fuels?
143 billion tonnes
How long does it take for carbon to move between rocks, soil, ocean and the atmosphere?
100-200 million years
How much CO₂ was emitted each day by the Icelandic volcanic eruption in 2010?
150,000-300,000 tonnes
What % did the Icelandic eruption contribute to the global emissions of GHGs in 2010?
0.3%
How many active surface volcanoes are on the planet?
70
How much energy does carbon provide worldwide?
30%
How much CO₂ was released by degassing in 1992?
100 million tonnes
How much carbon do volcanoes emit annually?
0.15-0.26 Gt (300 million tonnes)
How much carbon do humans emit annually?
35 Gt
In the oceans today, what % of carbon-containing rock is from shell-building (calcifying) organisms (corals) and plankton?
80%
How much CO₂ does phytoplankton sequester each year to the deep ocean?
2 billion tonnes
How many carbon compounds have been discovered?
10 million
How much of carbon makes up the earth’s atmosphere? (%)
0.03%
How much of the total active pool of carbon is stored in the ocean? (%)
95%
How much larger is the ocean as a carbon store than the atmosphere?
50 times larger
How much of the carbon in oceans is stored in undersea algae, plants and coral? (%)
93%, the remainder is in dissolved form
What are UK current emissions of carbon dioxide?
530 million tonnes of CO₂
What % of carbon dioxide makes up the Earth’s atmosphere?
0.04%
What have CO₂ concentrations risen to and from over the past decade? (%)
From 25% to 39%
How much CO₂ does each person generate a year?
2.3 tonnes of CO₂ a year
How is a majority of carbon stored in the oceans?
Dissolved inorganic carbon
How important is carbon in living organisms?
Second most abundant substance in living organisms beside water
By the end of the century, how much is earth temperature expected to rise by?
4 degrees
How much has atmospheric CO₂ increased by in the last 300 years? (%)
40%
List reasons why human activity has affected the carbon cycle
Burning fossil fuels, deforestation and carbon sequestration
A rise of 1.5 degrees will put what % of species at risk of extinction?
20-30%
By 2080, shifting temperature may reduce bird habitats in N. America, which would affect how many species?
314
How much global carbon is stored in soils?
20-30%
Since 1850, how much carbon have soils lost due to cultivation and disturbance?
40-90 billion tonnes
What % of global carbon emissions comes from cement production?
6%
How much carbon do peatlands store?
550 Gt - twice as much as forest biomass combined
Carbon remains in the atmosphere for how many years?
2000 years
