The carbon cycle

Question 1

Interdependence

Answer 1

The mutual dependence between things

Question 2

Sedimentary

Answer 2

Rocks produced by compacting of previously unconsolidated material

Question 3

Peat

Answer 3

A brown deposit resembling soil, formed by the partial decomposition of vegetation in the wet acidic condition of bogs and fens

Question 4

Fast carbon cycle

Answer 4

Movement of carbon through food chains within a human lifetime. This includes the vital processes of photosynthesis and respiration.
It is estimated that movement of carbon through food chains is up to 100 000 million metric tonnes per year

Question 5

Slow carbon cycle

Answer 5

Takes millions of years and involves flows from thee lithospheric to atmospheric store.
Key flows include formation of sedimentary rock, weathering of sedimentary rock or vented by volcanic activity. These occur across hundreds of thousands or millions of years.

Question 6

Autotrophs

Answer 6

An organism that produces its own food using light, water carbon dioxide or other chemical e.g. plants

Question 7

Scale of flow from atmosphere to biosphere

Answer 7

111 Billion metric tons p/a

Question 8

Scale of flow from biosphere to atmosphere

Answer 8

110 billion metric tons p/a

Question 9

Scale of flow from atmosphere to ocean

Answer 9

90 billion metric tons p/a

Question 10

Scale of flow from ocean to atmosphere

Answer 10

90 billion metric tons p/a

Question 11

Scale of flow from lithosphere to atmosphere

Answer 11

6.3 billion metric tons p/a
volcanic eruption, burning fossil fuels

Question 12

Carbon cycle pump

Answer 12

Processes operating in the oceans to circulate and store carbon. There are three sorts: biological, carbonate and physical

Question 13

Physical carbon pump

Answer 13

Cold dense water sinks,
This brings dissolved carbon to the ocean floor,
In slow moving, deep ocean currents, carbon remains dissolved in the ocean for years,
As thermolahaline currents cause this water to rise, carbon is released as CO2 gas

Question 14

Biological carbon pump

Answer 14

Photoplankton and aquatic plants sequestration carbon on the surface
Atmosphere-> biosphere
30% CO2 reaches depth of ocean
marine bacteria respire and release CO2

Question 15

Carbonate pump

Answer 15

Formation of sediment for dead organism on ocean floor

Question 16

Destruction of sedimentary rock in slow carbon cycle (and residence of carbon in rock)

Answer 16

Typical residence type of carbon in rock is 150 million years
Some rocks are subducted into the mantle at a destructive plate boundary and erupted out as carbon dioxide.
Rock is eroded by marine processes or acid rain

Question 17

Formation of fossil fuels

Answer 17

Organic matter dies and decomposes on land, then buried by other sediments
Build up of pressure and heat over time breaks down carbon based molecules and forms new compounds like those in oil, coal and natural gas

Question 18

Ultra long term carbon cycle - carbonate rock

Answer 18

Cycling of terrestrial bedrock and oceans over millions of years.
Slightly acid rain (H2CO3) reacts with limestone to produce soluble calcium bicarbonate.
Calcium bicarbonate moves through water cycle dissolved in rivers and oceans.
Calcium bicarbonate used by marine organism to create shells, these are deposited later as carbonate-rick sediment on the ocean floor where they are lithified

Question 19

Lithification

Answer 19

The process where loose sediment is converted into rock