carbon cycle
carbon in limestone and shale
The Himalayas form one of the Earth's largest carbon stores. This is because the mountains started life as ocean sediments rich in calcium carbonate derived from crustaceans, corals and plankton.
Since these sediments have been upfolded, the carbon they contained has been weathered, eroded and transported back to the oceans.
Carbon derived from plants and animals in shale, coal and other rocks.
These rocks were made up to 300 million years ago from the remains of organisms. These remains sank to the bottom of rivers, lakes and seas and were subsequently covered by silt and mud.
As a consequence, the remains continued to decay anaerobically and were compressed by further accumulations of dead organisms and sediment. The subsequent burning of these fossil fuels has released the large amounts of carbon they contained back into the atmosphere
Three forms of carbon in the Carbon Cycle:
Carbon Sequestration is the transfer of carbon from the atmosphere to other stores and
Fluxes of Carbon Cycle
Inorganic – Found in rocks as bicarbonates and carbonates
Organic – Found in plant material and living organisms
Gaseous – Found as CO2 and CH4 (methane)
carbon is present in the stores of:
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The atmosphere as CO2 and methane
The hydrosphere as dissolved CO2
The lithosphere as carbonates in limestone and fossil fuels like coal, gas and oil
The biosphere in living and dead organisms
can be both natural and artificial. For example. a plant sequesters carbon when it
photosynthesises and stores the carbon in its mass.
photosynthesis
The transfers in the carbon cycle act to drive and cause changes in the carbon cycle over time. They all have impacts of varying magnitude over different lengths of time .
Biological and chemical processes determine how much carbon is stored and released. The role of living organisms is very important in maintaining the system running efficiently.
Living organisms convert Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere and water from the soil, into Oxygen and Glucose using Light Energy
By removing CO ₂ from the atmosphere, plants are sequestering carbon and reducing the potential impacts of climate change
The process of photosynthesis occurs when chlorophyll in the leaves of the plant react with CO ₂, to create the carbohydrate glucose. Photosynthesis helps to maintain the balance between oxygen and CO₂ in the atmosphere.
During the day, plants photosynthesise, absorbing significantly more CO ₂ than they emit from respiration.
During the night they do not photosynthesise but they do respire, releasing more CO ₂ than they absorb.
Overall, plants absorb more CO₂ than they emit, so are net carbon dioxide absorbers (from the atmosphere) and net oxygen producers (to the atmosphere).