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Carbon - Coggle Diagram
Carbon
Terrestrial Sequestration
Short Term Variations
Diurnally- during the day the fluxes are positive from the atmosphere to the ecosystem, at night the flux is negative.
Seasonally- In the Northern Hemisphere winter atmospheric CO2 concentrations rise however drop again in the spring as there are more plants with the ability to take in CO2
Role of Mangroves
soils contain thick layers of peat, humus and soil which old hold large amounts of carbon.
Little amounts of carbon are respired back into the atmosphere as there are waterlogged conditions which promotes anaerobic respiration.
Sequester 1.5 mil tonnes of carbon per year
Role of Tundra Soils
Microbe activity only occurs when the soil thaws.
carbon trapped for hundreds of thousands of years which makes it a huge store.
Most of the soil is trapped in permafrost- containing ancient carbon.
Role of Tropical Rain Forests
Operates in a fast and a slow carbon cycle.
Slow Cycle
Moves carbon between the lithosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere
Physical pump - Based on the oceans circulatory systems, carbon mixes slower in the oceans than it does in the atmosphere. The colder the water the more potential there is for CO2 absorption whilst warm waters release CO2. Major ocean currents move tropical water to the poles where it can cool down and absorb more carbon. THERMOHALINE CIRCULATION
Takes 100-200 million years
Volcanic Out gassing - At subductions in destructive plate boundaries, heat causes the carbon rich rock to melt and thus release carbon into the oceans. When volcanoes erupt they also release carbon.
The carbon that is released into the atmosphere makes the rainfall slightly acidic which then causes chemical weathering of rocks and forces them to release the carbon that they hold. The carbon held in these rocks is them carried by rivers or infiltrates into the ground and then is once again stored in oceanic rock. Some shells dissolve in the water and are carried by ocean currents.
Phytoplankton take in CO2 from the atmosphere and forms into shells, when the marine organisms die they sink and their carbon rich shells lie on the bottom of the ocean and under intense pressure form sedimentary rock.
Fast Cycle
Moves carbon between living organisms
Takes years or decades
Phytoplankton take in carbon from the atmosphere, they are then eaten and the carbon makes its way through the food chain. It is then deposited into the atmosphere where the cycle repeats.
In forests and woodlands animals hold carbon, when they die they fall to the ground and decompose into the soil and this soil carbon is taken up by trees which use the carbon to grow fruit which animals eat completing the cycle.