The carbon cycle Flashcards
What % of Earth’s carbon is stored in the lithosphere ?
99%
What is the second largest carbon store on Earth ?
The ocean as part of the hydrosphere
What % of carbon is stored in the cryosphere?
Less than 0.1
What are changes within carbon stores over varying timescales called ?
Fluxes
Give an example of a hydrosere
Fresh water pond
Give an example of a halosere
Coastal salt marsh
Give an example of a psammosere
Sand dune
Give the example of a wildfire which caused natural variation to the carbon cycle
Indonesia fires in 2013 where ash spread across parts of South East Asia
In what era were volcanoes previously more active in influencing natural variation in the carbon cycle ?
Palaeozoic era
What amount of CO2 to volcanoes currently emit yearly ?
130-380 million per year
What is the period of time which accounts for natural climate change ?
Quarternary geological period where temperature fluctuates between interglacial and glacial periods
What is the example of a cycle related to natural climate change ?
Milankovitch cycles - climate patterns are influenced by long-term cyclical changes in Earth’s orbit and tilt which affects the solar light reaching different points of Earth`
What % of anthropogenic carbon release is due to hydrogen fuel extraction ?
90
What % of total methane emissions come from cattle in the USA ?
20
What % of global methane production is contributed to by rice cultivation ?
20
What % does higher atmospheric CO2 levels cause rice yields to increase by ?
25
What % of the world’s population has rice as it’s primary food source ?
50
What % of global carbon release is due to changing land use ?
10
Give a statistic about total land area and total anthropogenic CO2 emissions
2% of land globally is urban but it accounts for 97% of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions
What % if global carbon emissions are due to deforestation ?/
20
What is the carbon budget measured in ?
Petograms
What is volcanic winter ?
When volcanic eruptions release CO2 into the atmosphere which absorbs more radiation leading to a cooling effect of Earth
Give the major stores of carbon
- lithosphere
- hydrosphere
- cryosphere
- biosphere
- atmosphere
Give the factors which drive the change in the magnitude of carbon stores over space and time
- Photosynthesis
- respiration
- decomposition,
- combustion
- carbon sequestration in oceans and sediments
- weathering
