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Physical geograhy: WATER AND CARBON CYCLE > The carbon Cycle > Flashcards

The carbon Cycle Flashcards

1
Q

What is a Carbon store?

A

A place where carbon and its compounds may stay for a long period of time

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2
Q

What is a carbon sink?

A

A store that takes in more carbon than it releases

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3
Q

What is a carbon source?

A

A store that releases more carbon than it takes in

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4
Q

What is a carbon transfer?

A

Processes that transfer carbon between stores

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5
Q

What is a GtC?

A

A giga ton of carbon
1 gigatonne = 1 bn tonnes of carbon

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6
Q

What is anthropogenic CO2?

A

Carbon dioxide generated by human activity

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7
Q

What is a greenhouse gas?

A

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

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8
Q

What is the lithosphere?

A

the crust and uppermost mantle, the hard rigid outer layer of the earth

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9
Q

What is weathering?

A

The breakdown of rocks in situ by weather, plants and animals

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10
Q

What is the biosphere?

A

the total sum of all living matter

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11
Q

What is carbon sequestration?

A

The capture of CO2 from the atmosphere, or capturing anthropogenic CO2 from large scale stationary sources such as power stations - put into long term storage

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12
Q

Why is recycling carbon essential for life?

A

Enables food to be provided for plants and animals
A creation of energy sources

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13
Q

What can carbon form?

A

Biological molecules, gases (e.g CO2, CH4), Hydrocarbons

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14
Q

What is the primary source of carbon?

A

The Earth’s interior, is released at constructive and destructive boundaries

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15
Q

What are some of the stores in the carbon cycle? (6)

A

-sedimentary rock
- coal
- oil
- gas
- atmosphere
- phytoplankton

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16
Q

What are some of the transfers in the carbon cycle? (7)

A

-weathering and erosion
- rock cycle
- photosynthesis
- respiration
- burning
- decomposition
- diffusion

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17
Q

What is the largest store of carbon?

A

Marine sediments and sedimentary rock (lithospheric carbon)
99.9% of carbon

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18
Q

How is the ocean a store of carbon?

A

CO2 is absorbed directly from the air and river water discharges carbon in solutions

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19
Q

How is soil organic matter a store of carbon?

A

It contains rotting organic matter and are important carbon stores. Carbon can remain in the soils for hundreds of years

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20
Q

What are the inorganic sources of carbon in the lithosphere? (2)

A
  • Fossil fuels e.g coal, oil, natural gas
  • carbonate-based sedimentary deposits e.g limestone
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21
Q

What are organic sources of carbon within the lithosphere? (3)

A

-litter
-organic matter
-humid substances in soils

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22
Q

What are the 6 stores of carbon?

A

-marine sediments; sedimebtary rocks
-soil organic matter
-fossil fuel deposits
-atmosphere
-terrestrial plants
-oceans

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23
Q

How is carbon in the biosphere divided up?

A

Terrestrial and oceanic

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24
Q

What are the main sources of carbon in the biosphere? (5)

A

-Living vegetation
- Plant litter
- Soil hummus
- Peat
-Animals

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25
Q

Where is most of the carbon in the cryosphere?

A

In the soil areas of permafrost where decomposing plants and animals have frozen into the ground

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26
Q

What are methyl clathrates?

A

Molecules of methane frozen into ice crystals

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27
Q

What does most frozen organic matter in permafrost consist of?

A

Partially decayed roots, whole roots and other plant material

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28
Q

When is cryospheric carbon released into the atmosphere?

A

When the permafrost melts

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29
Q

What are oceanic carbon stores divided into? (3)

A

-Surface later (euphotic zone)
-Intermediate and deep layer
- Living organic matter

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30
Q

What is the euphotic zone?

A

The surface of the ocean where sunlight can penetrate and photosynthesis can take place

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31
Q

Why are sediments and rocks in the ocean so carbon rich?

A

Because when organisms die, they sink to the bottom of the ocean and decay, releasing carbon

32
Q

What are fluxes?

A

Measurements of rate of flow of material between stores

33
Q

What are processes?

A

Physical mechanisms which drive movement and fluxes

34
Q

What type of system is the carbon cycle?

A

Closed

35
Q

What is burial and compaction?

A

Organic matter is buried by sediments and becomes compacted

36
Q

What is the geological component?

A

Where the carbon cycle interacts with the rock cycle in the processes of weathering, burial, subduction and volcanic eruptions

37
Q

What is a sere?

A

A succession which relates to a specific environment

38
Q

What is a lithosere?

A

Vegetation succession which occurs on bare rock

39
Q

When was the Quaternary Period?

A

2.6 million years ago today

40
Q

Cold rainwater can hold…

A

….more CO2

41
Q

If rainwater hold more CO2, how is the rock affected?

A

It is weathered more

42
Q

What is eccentricity?

A

The change in the shape of the Earth’s orbit around the sun

43
Q

How does the eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit change?

A

in 100,000 year cycles. It change from a thin ellipses to a circle and back again

44
Q

What is an insolation?

A

The amount of solar radiation that reaches the Earth’s surface

45
Q

What does lower insolation mean for global temperatures?

A

They decrease

46
Q

What natural factors can increase input of atmospheric CO2?

A

Periods of increased volcanicity

47
Q

What human factors can increase input of atmospheric CO2? (3)

A

-Burning fossil fuels
-Causing more wildfires
-Climate change causing melting of tundra

48
Q

What natural factors can reduce removal of CO2 from the atmosphere? (3)

A

-Glacial periods (less vegetation)
-Interglacial periods (warmer oceans, less CO2 absorbed)
-Winter in the northern hemisphere, hibernation

49
Q

What human factors can reduce the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere? (2)

A

-Clearing vegetation from areas
- Climate change resulting in warmer oceans

50
Q

What % of anthropogenic CO2 is from fossil fuel burning?

A

90%
24% absorbed by oceans
26% absorbed by plants

51
Q

What are the human factors which can cause changes in the carbon cycle? (6)

A

-Combustion of fossil fuels
-Land use
-Farming practices
- Carbon sequestration in soils
-deforestation
-urbanisation

52
Q

How does deforestation affect the carbon cycle? (4)

A
  • Above ground biomass is burned, releasing CO2
  • Forest clearing may accelerate decay of dead wood, litter or below ground organic carbon
  • in a natural system, trees would decay very slowly
  • upsets equilibrium of carbon in the forest
53
Q

How can deforestation impact soils?

A

Without shade from trees, they dry out

54
Q

How does urbanisation affect the carbon cycle? (2)

A

-replacing open countryside with concrete and tarmac replaces important stores
-urban areas produce far more CO2 than rural ones

55
Q

What does terrestrial/ biological sequestration involve?

A

The use of plants to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in stems and roots

56
Q

What is the carbon budget?

A

Uses data to describe the amount of carbon that is stored and transferred within the carbon cycle

57
Q

What is the enhanced greenhouse effect?

A

The impact on the climate from the additional heat retained due to increased CO2

58
Q

What is geo-sequestration?

A

Technology capturing greenhouse gas emissions from power stations and pumping them into underground reservoirs

59
Q

What is radiative forcing?

A

The difference between the incoming solar energy absorbed by the earth and energy radiated back to space

60
Q

What is soil organic carbon (SOC)?

A

The organic constituents of the soil, tissues from dead plants/animals, products of decomposition, microbial biomass etc

61
Q

How does the carbon budget affect the ocean?

A

Excess carbon in the ocean makes the water more acidic, putting marine life in danger.

62
Q

How does the carbon budget affect the atmosphere + land?

A

Excess carbon in the atmosphere warms the planet and helps plants on land grow more

63
Q

How does the carbon budget affect the global climate?

A

Exceeding this threshold could cause global temperatures to reach dangerous levels.

64
Q

How much carbon is stored in the ocean?

A

38,000 GtC

65
Q

How much carbon is stored in the Lithosphere? - give 4 sources

A

100,000 GtC - 99.9%
Sedimentary rock (e.g limestone)
Organic carbon
Hydrocarbons such as fossil fuels
Marine sediments

66
Q

How much carbon is stored in the hydrosphere? - give 3 sources

A

0.0076%
Carbonate ions
Bicarbonate ions
Dissolved CO2

67
Q

How much carbon is stored in the pedosphere? - give 2 sources

A

1500 GtC
0.0031%
Soil organisms
Plant remains

68
Q

How much carbon is stored in the Cryosphere? - give 2 sources

A

0.01%
Permafrost
Methyl clathrates

69
Q

How much carbon is stored in the Atmosphere? - give a source

A

750 GtC
0.0015%
Gaseous carbon

70
Q

How much carbon is stored in the biosphere? - give a source

A

560 GtC
0.0012%
Living plants and animals

71
Q

How do farming practices affect carbon emissions?

A
  • Soil ploughing inverts the layers, mixing in air and increasing the soil microbial activity
  • Soil in organic matter broken down more quickly
  • Carbon lost from the soil into the atmosphere, increasing atmospheric carbon levels
  • Enteric fermentation accounted for 39% of the sector’s total GHG outputs in 2011
  • Rice paddy fields accounted for 10%
72
Q

How has land use change affected emissions?

A
  • Over ½ worlds population lives in urban areas
  • Urban population expected to reach 60% of what it is currently by 2030
  • Increased emissions from transport and domestic use and manufacturing
  • In 2012, cities responsible for 47% global carbon emissions
  • NA highest carbon emissions, in 2012 15.6 tonnes of CO2
73
Q

How do processes such as burial, compaction, and decomposition create different hydrocarbons?

A
  • Dead plants or animals turn into fossil fuels following burials
  • Pressure from multiple layers of sediment leads to an anoxic environment for decomposition without oxygen
  • Carbon in sugar molecules rearranged to form other compounds
74
Q

Dynamic equilibrium

A

Inputs and outputs are balanced over a long time period achieved in numerous ways

75
Q

How much carbon is stored in fossil fuels?

A

4000 GtC

Physical geograhy: WATER AND CARBON CYCLE (9 decks)

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