ELSS SG2

Question 1

What are three ways carbon is used by the natural world?

Answer 1

Photosynthesis, Sea creatures use it to make shells, Carbon from plants becomes part of fats and proteins in animals when eaten

Question 2

What are three ways carbon is used by humans?

Answer 2

Economic resource e.g. burning fossil fuels, Oil used in manufacturing e.g. plastic, Agricultural crops

Question 3

What % of carbon is stored in sedimentary rocks?

Answer 3

68.6% (100,000 tonnes)

Question 4

What % of carbon is stored in oceans?

Answer 4

26.5% (39,000 tonnes)

Question 5

What % of carbon is stored in fossil fuels?

Answer 5

2.7% (4,000 tonnes)

Question 6

What % of carbon is stored in soils/peat?

Answer 6

1% (1,500 tonnes)

Question 7

What % of carbon is stored in the atmosphere?

Answer 7

0.5% (720 tonnes)

Question 8

What % of carbon is stored in land plants?

Answer 8

0.4% (560 tonnes)

Question 9

How much carbon is stored in deep oceans?

Answer 9

38,100 GT

Question 10

What % of oceanic carbon is stored in oceanic sediment?

Answer 10

0.38%

Question 11

How does carbon storage in the atmosphere change between summer and winter?

Answer 11

More carbon in atmosphere in winter as plants die so there is little photosynthesis

Question 12

How is CO2 monitored in the atmosphere?

Answer 12

Monitored by NOAA in the Mauna Loa Observatory (Hawaii) by sampling gases, NASA uses satellites

Question 13

How much carbon is stored in terrestrial ecosystems?

Answer 13

2100 GT (3x the amount in the atmosphere)

Question 14

What are the seven flows in the carbon cycle?

Answer 14

Photosynthesis, Respiration, Decomposition, Combustion, Fossilisation, Sedimentation, Weathering

Question 15

Define Net Primary Productivity (NPP)

Answer 15

The amount of carbon sequestered by plants per metre squared per year

Question 16

Define Biological Pump

Answer 16

Carbon is exchanged between the ocean and atmosphere through the actions of marine biota

Question 17

What is the process of the biological pump?

Answer 17

Phytoplankton absorb CO2 via photosynthesis. They are consumed by other marine biota in the food chain. When marine biota die their remains fall as marine snow to the ocean floor which, over millions of years, turns into sedimentary rocks

Question 18

Define Physical Pump

Answer 18

Carbon is exchanged between the surface ocean and deep ocean by currents

Question 19

What is the process of the physical pump?

Answer 19

CO2 is transferred into the water through the process of diffusion. The CO2 rich surface water is taken to the deeper sections of the ocean due to downwelling. In the deep ocean, deepwater circulation occurs. The water is taken back to the surface through upwelling

Question 20

What are the fast carbon cycles?

Answer 20

Transfers between the atmosphere, oceans, living organisms and soils

Question 21

How much faster is the fast carbon cycle than the slow carbon cycle?

Answer 21

100 to 1000 time faster

Question 22

What are the slow carbon cycles?

Answer 22

Chemical weathering of silicate rocks (carbonation), Subduction, Mountain uplift

Question 23

How long does the slow carbon cycle take?

Answer 23

10,000 to millions of years