Geography- Water and Carbon Cycles - Carbon Cycle/Carbon Stores

Question 1

the carbon cycle

Answer 1

no inputs or outputs in the cycle

• closed system with 3 parts
  1. stores - where carbon is held
  2. fluxes - the flows of carbon between different stores, fluxes differ in size
  3. processes - the physical ways in which carbon fluxes happen

Question 2

carbon stores

Answer 2

measured in petagrams of carbon PgC

• hydrosphere - dissolved CO2 in bodies of water
• lithosphere - rocks like calcium carbonate and fossil fuels
• biosphere - animals and plants (dead and living)
• atmosphere - gases like CO2

Question 3

biochemical carbon stores

3 forms

Answer 3

• liquid
• gas
• solids

Question 4

terrestrial

Answer 4

when plant and animal matter decays it can be converted into other carbon stored by going into the soil

Question 5

role of organisms

Answer 5

photosynthesis - plants remove CO2 from atmosphere to produce energy - growth

respiration - all living organisms release CO2 as they breath and grow

decomposition - when they doe, they are broken down releasing CO2 into the soil

combustion - burning of biomass/fossil fuels by man + wildfires CO2 back into atmosphere

Question 6

oceans

Answer 6

• aquatic plants and animals fall to the ocean bed after death
• due to compression and cementation, they form sedimentary rock
• during these processes, crude oil and natural gas can form

Question 7

atmosphere

Answer 7

• CO2 stored as a gas in the atmosphere
• CO2 can leave the atmosphere when mixing with water vapour
• when precipitation happens this falls as a carbonic acid (acid rain)