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Geog - Water and Carbon Cycles > Carbon - Major Stores > Flashcards

Carbon - Major Stores Flashcards

Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere, Atmosphere

1
Q

What is the transfer (flux) of carbon meausred in?

A

Gigatonnes of carbon per year.

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2
Q

What is 1 gigatonne equivalent to in tonnes?

A

1 billion tonnes.

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3
Q

Who measures the amount of carbon in various stores?

A

The UN Climate Change Panel:
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (IPCC).

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4
Q

What is anthropogenic carbon dioxide?

A

Carbon dioxide which is generated by human activity.

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5
Q

What is the biosphere?

A

The total sum of all living matter.

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6
Q

What is a carbon sink?

A

A store of carbon which absorbs more carbon than it releases.

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7
Q

What is the lithosphere?

A

The crust and the uppermost mantle; this constitutes the hard and rigid outer layer of the Earth.

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8
Q

What is a greenhouse gas?

A

Any gaseous compound in the atmosphere which is capable of absorbing infrared radiation, thereby trapping and holding heat in the atmosphere.

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9
Q

In which form is carbon stored in the lithosphere?

A

Both inorganic (fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas, and carbonate-based sedimentary deposits such as limestone) and organic (including litter, organic matter, and humic substances found in soils).

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10
Q

Which four stores is carbon in the lithosphere distributed between?

A

Marine sediments and sedimentary rocks - up to 100 million GtC.
Soil organic matter - between 1,500 and 1,600 GtC.
Fossil fuel deposits of coal, oil and gas - around 4,100 GtC.
Peat - around 250 GtC.

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11
Q

Which of the four lithosphere stores contains the most carbon and how much?

A

Marine sediments and sedimentary rocks, containing up to 100 million GtC.

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12
Q

Which of the four lithosphere stores contains the least amount of carbon and how much?

A

Peat containing around 250 GtC.

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13
Q

Which three stores can hydrospheric carbon be distributed between?

A

The surface layer (euphotic zone).
The intermediate layer (twilight zone).
Living organic matter.

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14
Q

What is the euphotic zone?

A

The surface layer of the water where sunlight penetrates so that photosynthesis can occur.

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15
Q

How much carbon is stored in the euphotic zone?

A

Around 900 GtC.

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16
Q

What is the twilight zone?

A

The intermediate layer and the deep layer of the water where sunlight does not penetrate and photosynthesis does not occur.

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17
Q

How much carbon is stored in the twilight zone?

A

Around 37,100 GtC.

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18
Q

What types of living organic matter in the hydrosphere store carbon?

A

Fish, plankton, bacteria, mammals etc.

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19
Q

How much carbon is stored in living organic matter in the hydrosphere?

A

Around 30 GtC.

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20
Q

How much carbon is stored in dissolved organic matter in the hydrosphere?

A

Around 700 GtC.

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21
Q

What is the total amount of carbon in oceanic carbon?

A

Between 37,000 GtC - 40,000 GtC.

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22
Q

What kinds of decayed organic matter contains carbon in the hydrosphere?

A

Shells, cells, carcases.

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23
Q

What happens to decayed organic matter in the hydrosphere?

A

Some of it releases the CO2 into the water, and some material sinks to the bottom where it forms layers of carbon-rich sediments.

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24
Q

What happens to decayed material that sinks to the bottom of the ocean?

A

Over millions of years, chemical and physical processes may turn these sediments into rock, where it can lock up carbon for millions of years.

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25
Q

How much carbon is stored in marine sedimentary layers?

A

Up to 100 million GtC.

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26
Q

How much carbon is stored in the terrestrial biosphere?

A

Around 3,170 GtC.

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27
Q

What are the five main stores of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere?

A

Living vegetation.
Plant Litter.
Soil humus.
Peat.
Animals.

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28
Q

What percentage of carbon in the biosphere on a global scale is stored in plants?

A

19%.

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29
Q

Where is majority of carbon stored in plants?

A

Directly in the plant tissue.

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30
Q

What percentage of the dry weight in biomass is carbon?

A

It varies between 35-65%.

31
Q

What determines the amount of carbon in biomass?

A

The location and the vegetation type.

32
Q

Half of all carbon stored in forests occurs in which types of forests?

A

High-latitude forests.

33
Q

Around one third of carbon stored in forests occurs in which types of forests?

A

Low-latitude forests.

34
Q

Where are the two largest forest resevoirs of carbon found?

A

In the large expanses of Russia.

35
Q

What percentage of the world’s forest carbon is held in the large expanses of Russia?

A

25%.

36
Q

What percentage of the world’s forest carbon is held in the Amazon basin?

A

20%.

37
Q

What is plant litter?

A

Fresh, undecomposed and easily recognisable plant debris.

38
Q

What are some examples of plant litter?

A

Leaves, cones, needles, twigs, barks, seeds, nuts.

39
Q

What percentage of litter in forests is composed of leaf tissues?

A

Around 70%.

40
Q

Why is the annual litter fall in grasslands very low?

A

There is very little above ground perinnial tissue.

41
Q

What are perinnial plants?

A

Plants which live more than 2 years.
OR
Plants with little to no woody growth.

42
Q

What is soil humus?

A

A thick brown or black substance which remains after most of the organic matter has decomposed, originating from litter decomposition.

43
Q

How does soil humus get dispersed around the soil?

A

By soil organisms such as earthworms.

44
Q

In all forests, approximately what percentage of carbon is stored in the biomass?

A

31%.

45
Q

In all forests, approximately what percentage of carbon is stored in the soil?

A

69%.

46
Q

In tropical forests, approximately what percentage of carbon is stored in the soil?

A

50%.

47
Q

In tropical forests, approximately what percentage of carbon is stored in the biomass?

A

50%.

48
Q

Altogether, how much more carbon does the world’s soils hold than the vegetation?

A

2,500 GtC.

49
Q

How much carbon stored in soils is organic?

A

1,550 GtC.

50
Q

How much carbon stored in soils is inorganic?

A

950 GtC.

51
Q

What does inorganic soil carbon consist of?

A

Carbon itself, as well as carbonate materials such as calcite, dolomite, and gypsum.

52
Q

How much carbon is stored in living animals and plants?

A

560 GtC.

53
Q

How much larger is the soil carbon pool than the atmospheric pool?

A

3.1 times larger.

54
Q

What is the only carbon store larger than the soil carbon pool?

A

The ocean.

55
Q

What is peat?

A

An accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter which is unique to peatlands or mires.

56
Q

Where/ how do peat form?

A

In wetland conditions, where almost permanent water saturation obstructs flows of oxygen from the atmosphere to the ground.

57
Q

How does the conditions which peat grows ecourage decompostition?

A

Low oxygen anaerobic conditions slow down the rate of litter decomposition.

58
Q

How much land globally does peat cover?

A

Over 4 million km squared. Or 3% of the land and freshwater surface of the planet.

59
Q

How much carbon does peat store globally?

A

More than 250 GtC.

60
Q

Where is peatland found?

A

On all continents, from tropical to boreal and arctic zones on all altitudes.

61
Q

What were the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (ppm) 500 million years ago in the Cambrian period?

A

Over 7,000 ppm

62
Q

When was the lowest known atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and how low was it?

A

The Quarternary glaciation, over the last 2 million years, at 180 ppm.

63
Q

How much carbon is stored in the atmosphere in the present?

A

It varys from 720 GtC to 800 GtC.

64
Q

What percentage of the atmosphere does carbon dioxide take up?

A

0.04%.

65
Q

What is the impact of human activity on levels of CO2 in the atmosphere?

A

Levels of CO2 are the highest they’ve been for 800,000 years, and most probably in the last 20 million years.

66
Q

Where is atmospheric carbon measured?

A

At the Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) in Hawaii since 1958.

67
Q

Why is atmospheric carbon measured in Hawaii?

A

The undisturbed air, remote location, and minimal influences of vegetation or human activity are ideal for monitoring atmospheric levels.

68
Q

What has the MLO found about atmospheric carbon since 1958?

A

Global annual means of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has increased remarkably since the industrial revolution.

69
Q

What has the global annual mean CO2 concentration in the atmosphere increased to since the industrial revolution?

A

Industrial revolution: 280 ppm
March 1958: 317.7 ppm
February 2015: 400.3 ppm

70
Q

What is the main cause of the rise in CO2 levels in the atmosphere?

A

Anthropogenic sources, such as deforestation, and the burning of fossil fuels.

71
Q

What is the Keeling Curve?

A

A graph showing the daily record of global atmospheric CO2 concentration.

72
Q

What rate is the daily average global amospheric CO2 concentration rising by each year?

A

Approximately 2 ppm / year, and rising.

73
Q
A

Geog - Water and Carbon Cycles (13 decks)

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