Main Stores Of Carbon

Question 1

What are the main stores of carbon

Answer 1

Marine Sediments and sedimentary rocks
Oceans
Fossil fuel deposits
Soil organic matter
Atmosphere
Terrestrial plants

Question 2

Marine Sediment and Sedimentary Rocks

Answer 2

In the Lithosphere- long-term
Biggest store- 66,000-100,000 million billion tons of carbon
- The rock cycle and continental drift recycle the rock over time, but this may take thousands, if not millions of years

Question 3

Oceans

Answer 3

Hydrosphere- dynamic
Second biggest store- 38,000 billion metric tons of carbon
The carbon is constantly utilised by marine organisms, lost as an output to the lithosphere, or gains as an input from rivers and erosion

Question 4

Fossil fuel deposits

Answer 4

lithosphere- long-term but currently dynamic
Fossil fuels used to be rarely changing over short periods of time, but humans have developed technology to exploit them rapidly, through 4000 billion metric tons of carbon remains as fossil fuels

Question 5

Soil organic matter

Answer 5

lithosphere- Mid-term
The soil can store carbon for over a hundred years, but deforestation, agriculture and land use changes are affecting this store
1500 billion metric tons of carbon stored

Question 6

Atmosphere

Answer 6

Dynamic
Human activity has caused CO2 level in the atmosphere to increase by around 40% since the Industrial Revolution, causing unprecedented changes to the global climate
750 billion metric tons of carbon stored

Question 7

Terrestrial plants

Answer 7

Biosphere- Mid-term but very dynamic
Vulnerable to climate change and deforestation and as a result carbon storage in forests is declining manually in some areas of the world
560 billion metric tons of carbon

Question 8

what is the main store of carbon

Answer 8

the lithosphere