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Geography AQA- Physical. > The Carbon Cycle > Flashcards

The Carbon Cycle Flashcards

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1
Q

Carbon is the 4th most abundant element in the universe. Which 3 elements are more abundant than carbon?

A

Hydrogen, Oxygen, Helium

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2
Q

What % of our bodies is made up of water and carbon?

A

83%

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3
Q

What is carbon called when its a gas?

A

Carbon dioxide

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4
Q

Carbon can also exist as a solid, what are two examples of this?

A

Limestone, wood.

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5
Q

5 most important carbon compounds:

A

-Carbon dioxide
-Methane
-Calcium carbonate
-Hydrocarbons
-Bio-molecules

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6
Q

What is methane?

A

A gas found in the atmosphere, soils and oceans and sedimentary rocks.

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7
Q

What is calcium carbonate?

A

A solid compound found in calcareous rocks, oceans and in the skeletons and shells of ocean creatures.

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8
Q

What are hydrocarbons?

A

Solids, liquids or gases usually found in sedimentary rocks.

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9
Q

What are bio-molecules?

A

Complex carbon compounds produced in living things. Proteins. carbohydrates, fats and oils, and DNA are examples of bio-molecules.

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10
Q

Primary/ original source of carbon on earth:

A

Earth’s interior. It was stored in the earth’s mantle when earth was formed. It escapes here at destructive and constructive plate boundaries and volcanoes.

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11
Q

Co2 released at destructive margins is derived from what?

A

Metamorphism of carbonate rocks subducting with the ocean crust.

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12
Q

What unit is used by the United Nations climate change panel to measure carbon?

A

A gigatonne, 1Gt amounts to 1 billion tonnes.

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13
Q

How is transfer of carbon measured?

A

Gigatonnes of carbon per year.

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14
Q

Anthropogenic CO2 definition:

A

Carbon dioxide generated by human activity.

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15
Q

Biosphere definition:

A

The total sum of all living matter.

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16
Q

Carbon sequestration definition:

A

Capture of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or capturing anthropogenic CO2 from stationary sources before it is released into the atmosphere. After it is captured it is put into long-term storage.

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17
Q

Carbon sink definition:

A

A store of carbon that absorbs more carbon than it releases.

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18
Q

Greenhouse gas definition:

A

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

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19
Q

Lithosphere definition:

A

The crust and the uppermost mantle; this constitutes the hard and rigid outer layer of the earth.

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20
Q

Weathering definition:

A

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

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21
Q

Inorganic deposits of carbon in the lithosphere:

A

Fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas, oil shale and carbonate sedimentary deposits like limestones.

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22
Q

Four stores carbon is distributed between in the lithosphere:

A

Marine sediments/ sedimentary rocks- 100 million GtC
Soil organic matter- 1,500-1,600 GtC
Fossil fuel deposits of coal, oil and gas- 4,100 GtC
Peat- 250 GtC

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23
Q

What is peat?

A

Dead but undecayed organic matter found in boggy areas.

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24
Q

Hydrosphere- Ocean stores can be divided into 3:

A

-Surface layer where sunlight penetrates (photosynthesis)- 900 GtC
-Intermediate (twilight zone) and the deep layer of water- 37,100 GtC
-Living organic matter- 30 GtC and dissolved organic matter- 700 GtC

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25
Q

Total oceanic carbon:

A

37,000- 40,000 GtC

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26
Q

How is a sedimentary layer formed in the ocean?

A

Dead organisms decay releases carbon dioxide into deep water, some material sinks right to the bottom, forming carbon-rich sediments. Over millions of years chemical and physical processes may turn the sediments into rocks.

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27
Q

What is the estimated total amount of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere?

A

3,170 GtC.

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28
Q

What are the 5 main stores of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere?

A

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

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29
Q

What % of carbon in the Earth’s biosphere is in plants?

A

19%

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30
Q

Where in the plants is most carbon stored?

A

Directly in the tissue

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31
Q

What is the amount of carbon in the biomass and what affects this?

A

35-65%, varies depending on the location and vegetation type.

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32
Q

Which latitude forests hold the most carbon?

A

Half of carbon in forests is in high-latitude forests.
One third is in low-latitude forests.

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33
Q

What are the two largest forest reservoirs?

A

In Russia, holding 25% of the world’s forest carbon and the Amazon basin, containing 20%.

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34
Q

What is plant litter defined as?

A

Fresh, undecomposed, and easily recognisable plant debris.

35
Q

What type of plant litter is most common in forests?

A

70% of litter in forests is leaf tissues.

36
Q

What is soil humus?

A

Originates from litter decomposition, a thick brown substance that remains after most of the organic litter has decomposed.

37
Q

How does soil humus get dispersed?

A

Throughout soil by soil organisms such as earth worms.

38
Q

In all forests what % of carbon is stored in biomass and the soil?

A

31% in the biomass
69% in the soil

39
Q

In tropical forests what % of carbon is stored in biomass and the soil?

A

50% in the biomass
50% in the soil

40
Q

What holds more carbon in the world, soil or vegetation?

A

Soil!

41
Q

What does inorganic carbon consist of?

A

Carbon and carbonate materials such as calcite, dolomite and gypsum.

42
Q

How much larger is the soil carbon pool than the atmospheric pool?

A

3.1X larger than the atmospheric pool which is 800 GtC.

43
Q

Where do peats form?

A

Wetland conditions, where almost permanent water saturation obstructs flows of oxygen from the atmosphere into the ground.
-Low oxygen anaerobic conditions slow down plant litter decomposition.

44
Q

What % of the earths land and freshwater surface us peatlands?

A

3%

45
Q

What is the peatland estimated carbon store?

A

More than 250 GtC worldwide.

46
Q

What role do animals play in the storage of carbon?

A

A small role, however they are important in the generation of movement of carbon through the carbon cycle.

47
Q

When was the earth’s atmospheric carbon the highest?

A

7,000 ppm in the Cambrian period around 500 million years ago.

48
Q

When was the earth’s atmospheric carbon the lowest concentration?

A

Over the last 2 million years during the quaternary glaciation, it sank ti 180ppm (parts per million).

49
Q

What is the estimated overall amount of carbon stored in the atmosphere today?

A

Varies from 720 GtC to 800 GtC, makes up around 0.04% of the atmosphere.

50
Q

The Earths carbon is the highest it has been in ________?

A

800,000 years, likely the past 20 million years.

51
Q

CO2 is a potent _______ ___?

A

Greenhouse gas

52
Q

What has been the primary attribute to global warming?

A

Industrial CO2 emissions.

53
Q

What is the Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO)?

A

Observatory measurements of carbon and monitoring atmospheric constituents.

54
Q

Why is the MLO in Hawaii?

A

Undisturbed air, remote location, minimal influences of vegetation and human activity.

55
Q

What do the MLO measurements show? Between when has it increased markedly and by how much?

A

Increased markedly since the Industrial Revolution, from 280ppm to 317.7ppm in March 1958, to 400.3 ppm as of February 2015.

56
Q

What are human sources of carbon called?

A

Anthropogenic- burning fossil fuels and deforestation.

57
Q

Who was Keeling Curve?

A

One of the first scientists to gather evidence that linked fossil fuel emissions to rising levels of carbon dioxide.

58
Q

What the CO2 currently rising at a rate of?

A

2ppm/year and accelerating.

59
Q

What is a net carbon sink?

A

If more carbon enters a store than leaves it.

60
Q

What is a net carbon source?

A

More carbon leaves a store than enters it.

61
Q

What is the geological component of the carbon cycle?

A

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

62
Q

How is carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere ?

A

Dissolving in water and forming carbonic acid.

62
Q

What is the equation for forming carbonic acid?

A

CO2 + H20 = H2CO3

63
Q

How is calcium carbonate formed?

A

Acidic water reacting with minerals, dissolving them into their component ions through chemical weathering. They are then carried in surface waters to the ocean where they settle as minerals.

64
Q

What do sea animals skeletons eventually form?

A

If they sink they collect as sediment where they can eventually layer over each other to form sedimentary limestone.

65
Q

What does coral extract from seawater?

A

CaCO3

66
Q

How does coral store carbon?

A

Dead coral is built upon by later generations of live coral so it becomes buried, carbon is now stored below the sea floor in layers of limestone.

67
Q

What can expose carbon buried in limestone?

A

Tectonic uplift.

68
Q

What process causes plate movement to push the sea floor under continental margins?

A

Subduction.

69
Q

How does tectonic movement release the oceans carbon into the atmosphere?

A

Sea-floor deposits are pushed deep into the earth where they heat up, melt and rise up to the surface through volcanic eruptions, or seeps/vents.

70
Q

What four processes control atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations?

A

Weathering, burial, subduction, and volcanism.

71
Q

What three oceanic plants (+bacteria) turn carbon into organic matter?

A

Tiny marine plants, all terrestrial plants, photosynthetic algae.

72
Q

What process has plants turning carbon into organic matter?

A

Photosynthesis.

73
Q

How does photosynthesis work?

A

Plants use energy from sunlight to combine atmospheric carbon dioxide with water to form carbohydrates.

74
Q

What do carbohydrates store?

A

Energy

75
Q

What by-product is released by photosynthesis?

A

Oxygen is released into the atmosphere.

76
Q

The equation for photosynthesis:

A

CO2 + H2O + sunlight = CH20 + 02

77
Q

What do photosynthetic algae and bacteria do with the stored carbohydrates?

A

Use it as an energy source to carry out their life functions by the process of respiration.

78
Q

Consumers (bacteria and animals) get their energy from where?

A

The carbohydrates remaining in plants is stored as biomass which consumers gain their energy from.

79
Q

What is the equation for respiration?

A

O2 + CH20 = energy + H20 + CO2

80
Q

What two processes are opposites of each other that work together?

A

Photosynthesis and respiration.

81
Q

What is decomposition?

A

Includes, physical, chemical and biological mechanisms that transform organic matter into increasingly stable forms.
Broad definition- Physical break-up of organic material by wet-dry, shrink-swell, hot-cold and other cycles.

82
Q
A

Geography AQA- Physical. (4 decks)

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