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AQA A-Level Physical Geography > 🌧️3.1.1.3 - The Carbon Cycle > Flashcards

🌧️3.1.1.3 - The Carbon Cycle Flashcards

1
Q

What is a Carbon store?

A

The lithosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, atmosphere etc

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2
Q

What is a carbon sink?

A

A store that takes in more carbon than it releases

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3
Q

What is a carbon source?

A

A store that releases more carbon than it takes in

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4
Q

What is a carbon transfer?

A

Processes that transfer carbon between stores

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5
Q

What is a GtC?

A

A gigatonne of Carbon, 1 gigatonne = 1 billion tonnes

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6
Q

What is anthropogenic CO2?

A

Carbon Dioxide generated by human activity

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7
Q

What is a greenhouse gas?

A

Any gaseous compound in the atmosphere that is capable of absorbing infrared radiation, therefore trapping and holding heat in the atmosphere

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8
Q

What is the lithosphere?

A

The crust and uppermost mantle, the hard rigid outer layer of the earth

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9
Q

What is weathering?

A

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

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10
Q

What is the biosphere?

A

The total sum of all living matter

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11
Q

What is Carbon Sequestration?

A

The capture of CO2 from the atmosphere, or capturing anthropogenic CO2 from large scale stationary sources such as power stations - put into long term storage

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12
Q

Why is recycling carbon essential for life?

A

It enables food to be provided for plants and animals and creation of energy sources

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13
Q

What can carbon form?

A

Biological molecules, Gases (eg CO2, CH4), Hydrocarbons

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14
Q

What is the primary source of Carbon?

A

The Earth’s interior

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15
Q

What are some of the stores in the carbon cycle?

A

Sedimentary rock, coal, oil, gas, plants, atmosphere, phytoplankton etc

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16
Q

What are some of the transfers in the carbon cycle?

A

Weathering and erosion, rock cycle, photosynthesis, respiration, burning, decomposition, diffusion

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17
Q

What is the largest store of carbon?

A

Marine sediments and sedimentary rock

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18
Q

How is the ocean a store of carbon?

A

CO2 is absorbed directly from the air and river water discharges carbon in solutions

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19
Q

How is soil organic matter a store of carbon?

A

They contain rotting organic matter and are important carbon stores. Carbon can remain in the soils for hundreds of years

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20
Q

What are inorganic sources of carbon in the lithosphere?

A

Fossil fuels, eg coal, oil, natural gas and carbonate-based sedimentary deposits

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21
Q

What are organic sources of carbon within the lithosphere?

A

Litter, organic matter and humic substances in soils

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22
Q

What are the three stores of carbon in the lithosphere?

A

Marine sediments & sedimentary rocks
Soil organic matter
Fossil fuel deposits

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23
Q

How is carbon in the biosphere divided up?

A

Into terrestrial and oceanic

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24
Q

What are the main sources of carbon in the biosphere?

A

Living vegetation
Plant litter
Soil humus
Peat
Animals

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25
Q

Where is most of the carbon in the cryosphere?

A

In the soil areas of permafrost where decomposing plants and animals have frozen into the ground

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26
Q

What are methyl clathrates?

A

Molecules of methane frozen into ice crystals

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27
Q

What does most frozen organic matter in permafrost consist of?

A

Partially decayed roots, whole roots and other plant material

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28
Q

When is cryospheric carbon released into the atmosphere?

A

When the permafrost melts

29
Q

What are oceanic carbon stores divided into?

A

Surface later (euphotic zone)
Intermediate and deep layer
Living organic matter

30
Q

What is the euphotic zone?

A

The surface of the ocean where sunlight can penetrate and photosynthesis can take place

31
Q

Why are sediments and rocks in the ocean so carbon rich?

A

Because when organisms die, they sink to the bottom of the ocean and decay, releasing carbon

32
Q

What are fluxes?

A

Measurements of rate of flow of material between stores

33
Q

What are processes?

A

Physical mechanisms which drive movement and fuxes

34
Q

What type of system is the carbon cycle?

A

Closed

35
Q

What is burial and compaction?

A

Organic matter is buried by sediments and becomes compacted

36
Q

What is the geological component?

A

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

37
Q

What is a sere?

A

A succession which relates to a specific environment

38
Q

What is a lithosere?

A

Vegetation succession which occurs on bare rock

39
Q

When was the quaternary period?

A

2.6 million years ago to today

40
Q

Cold rainwater can hold…

A

…more CO2

41
Q

If rainwater hold more CO2, how is the rock affected?

A

It is weathered more

42
Q

What is eccentricity?

A

The change in the shape of the Earth’s orbit around the sun

43
Q

How does the eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit change?

A

In 100,000 year cycles. it changes from a thin ellipse to a circle and back again

44
Q

What is insolation?

A

The amount of solar radiation that reaches the Earth’s surface

45
Q

What does lower insolation mean for global temperatures?

A

They decrease

46
Q

What natural factors can increase input of atmospheric CO2?

A

Periods of increased volcanicity

47
Q

What human factors can increase input of atmospheric CO2?

A

Burning fossil fuels
Causing more wildfires
Climate change causing melting of tundra

48
Q

What natural factors can reduce removal of CO2 from the atmosphere

A

Glacial periods (less vegetation)
Interglacial periods (warmer oceans, less CO2 absorebd)
Winter in the northern hemisphere, hibernation

49
Q

What human factors can reduce the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere

A

Deforestation
Climate change resulting in warmer oceans

50
Q

What percentage of anthropogenic CO2 is from fossil fuel burning?

A

90%

51
Q

How does ploughing increase CO2 emissions?

A

It aerates soil, increasing microbial activity and therefore decomposition, more CO2 released

52
Q

What are the human factors which can cause changes in the carbon cycle?

A

Combustion of fossil fuels
Land use
Farming practices
Carbon sequestration in soils
Deforestation
Urbanisation

53
Q

How does deforestation affect the carbon cycle?

A

Above ground biomass is burned, releasing CO2
Forest clearing may accelerate decay of dead wood, litter or below ground organic carbon
In a natural system, trees would decay very slowly
Upsets the balance of carbon in the forest

54
Q

How can deforestation impact soils?

A

Without shade from trees, they dry out

55
Q

How does urbanisation affect the carbon cycle?

A

Replacing open countryside with concrete and tarmac replaces important stores
Urban areas produce far more CO2 than rural ones

56
Q

What does terrestrial/biological sequestration involve?

A

The use of plants to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in stems and roots

57
Q

What is the carbon budget?

A

Uses data to describe the amount of carbon that is stored and transferred within the carbon cycle

58
Q

What is the enhanced greenhouse effect?

A

The impact on the climate from the additional heat retained due to increased CO2

59
Q

What is geo-sequestration?

A

Technology capturing greenhouse gas emissions from power stations and pumping them into underground reservoirs

60
Q

What is radiative forcing?

A

The difference between the incoming solar energy absorbed by the earth and energy radiated back to space

61
Q

What is soil organic carbon (SOC)?

A

The organic constituents of the soil, tissues from dead plants/animals, products of decomposition, microbial biomass etc.

62
Q

How is the carbon budget affecting ocean salinity?

A

Decrease in salinity in the deep North Atlantic, more freshwater being added to the ocean. Slowing down of large scale oceanic circulation

63
Q

How many tonnes of carbon does the marine sediments and sedimentary rock store?

A

100,000 metric tonnes - largest store

64
Q

How many tonnes of carbon does the ocean store?

A

38,000

65
Q

How many tonnes of carbon do fossil fuel deposits store?

A

4000 metric tonnes

66
Q

How many tonnes of carbon does soil organic matter store?

A

1,500

67
Q

How many tonnes of carbon does the atmosphere store?

A

750

68
Q

How many tonnes of carbon do terrestrial plants store?

A

560

AQA A-Level Physical Geography (28 decks)

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