A.2 The Carbon Cycle

Question 1

What is the Carbon Cycle?

Answer 1

The biogeochemical cycle by which carbon moves from one part of the global system to another

Question 2

What does biogeological mean

Answer 2

cycling between living things

Question 3

What is equilibrium?

Answer 3

when the inputs and outputs are balanced

Question 4

What is a store in terms of carbon?

Answer 4

the amounts of carbon held in the global system

Question 5

What is a flow in terms of carbon?

Answer 5

movements/transfers of carbon between stores

Question 6

What adds how many gigatonnes of carbon into the atmosphere?

Answer 6

volcanic activity which adds 0.1 gigatonnes

Question 7

How much is a gigatonne?

Answer 7

1 billion tonnes

Question 8

What model shows the transfer of carbon between stores through inputs and outputs?

Answer 8

the black box model

Question 9

What are the types of stores of carbon? (4)

Answer 9

oceans
atmosphere
lithosphere
biosphere

Question 10

What’s the issue with the fast carbon cycle?

Answer 10

too much carbon is being put into it, making it unsustainable

Question 11

How many gigatonnes of carbon are in sedimentary rocks and ocean sediments?

Answer 11

100,000,000

Question 12

How many gigatonnes of carbon are in ocean water?

Answer 12

38,700

Question 13

How many gigatonnes of carbon are in sea floor sediments?

Answer 13

6,000

Question 14

How many gigatonnes of carbon are in fossil fuels?

Answer 14

4,130

Question 15

How many gigatonnes of carbon are in soils and peats?

Answer 15

2,300

Question 16

How many gigatonnes of carbon are in the atmosphere?

Answer 16

600

Question 17

How many gigatonnes of carbon are in the biosphere?

Answer 17

560

Question 18

What do I need to remember about the data for the amount of carbon in the atmosphere?

Answer 18

it doesn’t include human activity and is meant to be a small store of carbon

Question 19

What does the biosphere consist of? (4)

Answer 19

green plants
animals
litter
soil

Question 20

How much of the earth’s carbon is stored in plants with root systems?

Answer 20

20%

Question 21

Which biomass is bigger than the other?

Answer 21

the biomass of plants is bigger than the biomass of animals

Question 22

What is litter?

Answer 22

Debris that isn’t decomposed

Question 23

What is humus?

Answer 23

the organic black substance in the soil formed by the decomposition of leaves and other plant material

Question 24

What is insolation?

Answer 24

exposure to the sun’s rays

Question 25

Describe how and why the amount of carbon stored as biomass varies with latitude (4)

Answer 25

• The latitude impacts rainfall and insolation and therefore how much life can grow
• An example is desert areas, where temp is above 45C with low rainfall and little biomass.
• Equatorial regions hold most of the world’s biomass
• Manaus (in the Amazon), Brazil has high temperatures and high rainfall (more biomass)

Question 26

What is a flux?

Answer 26

any movement of carbon between the reservoirs/stores. They have vary varied timescales

Question 27

What are the faster carbon fluxes? (3)

Answer 27

• burning fossil fuels
• decomposition of life
• ocean surface

Question 28

What are the slower carbon fluxes? (1)

Answer 28

-rock cycle

Question 29

Name a carbon cycle process and what part does it play?

Answer 29

photosynthesis. The absorbance of CO2 from the atmosphere and this process fixing it into biomass

Question 30

How is net carbon flow calculated?

Answer 30

by subtracting the outputs from the inputs

Question 31

What does a negative net carbon flow value mean?

Answer 31

that carbon has been added to the atmosphere

Question 32

What are the 6 carbon pathway processes?

Answer 32

respiration
photosynthesis
consumption
death and leaf shedding
excretion and death
decomposition

Question 33

What is photosynthesis?

Answer 33

it is a chemical reaction that takes place inside a plant, producing glucose for the plant to survive. Gaseous carbon is fixed into a solid form

Question 34

What is respiration?

Answer 34

it is the way that energy is released from glucose so that all the other chemical processes needed for life can happen. Carbon dioxide is given off

Question 35

What is decomposition?

Answer 35

the process of decaying or rotting. Carbon dioxide is returned to the atmosphere

Question 36

What are the 2 carbon cycle pumps in the oceans?

Answer 36

biological pump

physical pump

Question 37

What is the carbonate pump?

Answer 37

the formation of sediments from dead organisms

Question 38

What does the physical pump involve?

Answer 38

the movement of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the ocean by a process called diffusion

Question 39

What does carbon dioxide diffusion determine?

Answer 39

the acidity of the oceans