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Carbon Cycle

Carbon Cycle. D19. Explain how chemical and physical processes cause carbon to cycle through the major earth reservoirs. Carbon. Carbon is a unique element because it can form a wide variety of compounds. It is found in the atmosphere, and it is dissolved in all natural waters.

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Carbon Cycle

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  1. Carbon Cycle

  2. D19 Explain how chemical and physical processes cause carbon to cycle through the major earth reservoirs.

  3. Carbon • Carbon is a unique element because it can form a wide variety of compounds. • It is found in the atmosphere, and it is dissolved in all natural waters. • It is a component of rocks as carbonates of calcium (limestone), magnesium, and iron. • It is found in all living things

  4. Carbon is unique • Carbon can form four bonds at a time. • It bonds with hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and other elements. It can also bond to other carbon atoms, forming a long chain of atoms • There are close to ten million known carbon compounds, many thousands of which are vital to organic and life processes.

  5. Where, and in what forms, is carbon found? • Carbon is found as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the earth and dissolved in all natural waters. • It is a component of great rock masses in the form of carbonates of calcium (limestone), magnesium, and iron. • Coal, petroleum, and natural gas are chiefly hydrocarbons – which are a combination of carbon and hydrogen.

  6. Why study the Carbon Cycle? • All living organisms are built of carbon compounds. It is the fundamental building block of life and an important component of many chemical processes. • Carbon is exchanged, or "cycled" among Earth's oceans, atmosphere, ecosystem, and geosphere.

  7. http://eri.gg.uwyo.edu

  8. Parts of the Carbon Cycle • Hydrosphere • Lithosphere • Atmosphere • Biosphere

  9. Hydrosphere • The hydrosphere is the liquid water component of the Earth. • It includes the oceans, seas, lakes, ponds, rivers and streams. • The hydrosphere covers about 70% of the surface of the Earth and is the home for many plants and animals.

  10. Hydrosphere Carbon • Marine life including plankton and shellfish use CO2 combined with Ca to form shells and skeletons. • After death, the remains of these organisms are incorporated into sediment on the ocean floor. • Over time, this sediment moves downwards in the Earth and the increasing heat drives carbon dioxide out of the sediment. • It is released to the atmosphere by volcanism.

  11. Atmosphere • The Earth's atmosphere is a thin layer of gases that surrounds the Earth.

  12. Atmospheric Carbon • Carbon dioxide (CO2) is present in the atmosphere • Carbon dioxide comprises less than 5 % of the atmosphere. It has a residence time of 10 years. • But, it plays an important role with regards to our planet’s temperature.

  13. Biosphere • The biosphere is all life on our planet. • This includes all the things that are living as well as the remains of those that have died but have not yet decomposed. • The biosphere includes life on land and in the oceans

  14. Biosphere Carbon • Have you heard the expression “carbon-based life forms”? • Living things on our planet are carbon-based because most of the molecules in them are chains of carbon atoms linked together. • Organic molecules are molecules that contain carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. Lecithin – triglyceride

  15. http://www.theresilientearth.com/?q=content/biodiversity-balderdashhttp://www.theresilientearth.com/?q=content/biodiversity-balderdash

  16. Lithosphere • The lithosphere consists of sediment and rocks of the upper crust of the Earth. • Carbon enters the lithosphere through ocean and by the burial of decaying organic matter.

  17. Lithosphere Carbon • Limestone - carbon in this rock originates from the hydrosphere’s organisms. Upon their death, these organisms become part of ocean sediments and over time they convert to limestone and becomes part of the lithosphere carbon reservoir. • Coal, oil, and natural gas - these are the remains of ancient plants and plankton which have undergone geologic processes.

  18. Sinks and Sources • Sinks are ways that carbon is stored for long periods without being reintroduced to the atmosphere • Sources are ways that carbon is moved into the atmosphere • When in balance, the total carbon dioxide emissions and removals from the entire carbon cycle are roughly equal. • Currently, the sources are overpowering the sinks

  19. Natural Sources and Sinks • Billions of tons of atmospheric CO2 are removed from the atmosphere by oceans and growing plants, which function as ‘sinks,’ • This carbon is emitted back into the atmosphere annually through natural processes also known as ‘sources.’

  20. Natural Sources • Animals and plants respire, which moves carbon from the biosphere into the atmosphere • The hydrosphere’s oceans release CO2 into the atmosphere at the sea surface by diffusion • Volcanic eruptions, which release carbon from the lithosphere into the atmosphere. • The lithosphere also releases carbon back into circulation through weathering and erosion

  21. Natural Sinks • Plants undergo photosynthesis; they take in CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in the biosphere. • Oceans absorb CO2 from the atmosphere by diffusion into the hydrosphere at the surface.

  22. How man affects sources • The largest source of CO2 emissions globally is the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas in power plants, automobiles, industrial facilities and other sources. • When fossil fuels are burned to produce energy their carbon is released into the atmosphere as CO2.

  23. How man affects sinks • Growing trees and plants remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in the biosphere. • Humans cause deforestation, which erases this key carbon sink.

  24. References • http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/earth_system/biogeochemical_cycles.html • http://www.actewagl.com/education/Glossary/default.aspx?letterSearch=C • http://www.eoearth.org/article/Carbon_cycle • http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0857177.html • http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/ctec/Carbon/carboncycle.htm • http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Bi-Ca/Carbon-Dioxide-in-the-Ocean-and-Atmosphere.html • http://eri.gg.uwyo.edu/resources/Energy/coal/information/formation/carbonCycle/humanEffect.asp • http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/co2_human.html

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