Carbon - origins on earth Flashcards
Where is the primary source of carbon on Earth?
The Earth’s interior.
Where was carbon stored when the Earth was formed?
In the mantle.
Where/ how did carbon escape the mantle?
At constructive/destructive plate boundries as well as hot-spot volcanoes.
Where is most of the carbon dioxide released at destructive margins derived from?
The metamorphism of carbonate rocks subducting with the ocean crust.
Where/ how is carbon sequestrated?
Burial of sedimentary rock layers, especially coal and black shales and carbonate rocks such as limestone.
Where is carbon stored?
Some remains in the atmosphere as CO2.
Some is dissolved in the hydrosphere in the oceans.
Some is held in the biosphere in living, dead or decaying organisms.
Some is bound in the lithosphere in carbonate rocks.
