Biological carbon cycle

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Created by: harrissamelia
Created on: 05-12-22 19:10

What is a carbon store?

Reservoir used to store carbon eg atmospheric, terrestrial or biological

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What is the carbon cycle?

The movement of carbon between stores on land, oceans and atmosphere.

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What are sources of carbon?

Processes that add carbon into the atmosphere e.g burning greenhouse gases

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What are carbon sinks?

Processes that remove carbon from the atmosphere e.g trees take in CO2 through photosynthesis

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What are carbon fluxes?

The movement of carbon from one sphere to another e.g terrestrial to atmospheric through volcanic outgassing.

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What is reservoir turnover?

The rate at which carbon enters and leaves a store, measured by the mass of a store and divided by the fluxes

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What is the atmosphere?

Gases such as CO2 and methane

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What is the hydrosphere?

Oceans, lakes and rivers that dissolve CO2

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What is the lithosphere?

Carbonates found in rocks such as limestone, and chalk

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Biosphere

Living and dead organisms, most notably in the world's forests

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Name 3 biomes with the most carbon stored

Tropical forests, tropical savannahs and deserts

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What is the biological carbon pump?

Phytoplankton absorb CO2 through photosynthesis, when dead these fall to the seabed or are eaten by zooplankton. When these die, they fall to deeper parts of the ocean and condense into carbonate rocks, storing carbon in the oceans

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What is the marine carbonate pump?

Zooplankton is eaten by corals and crabs and carbon is stored in their shells. This makes space for more CO2 in the oceans as CO2 is stored in the organisms. Carbon chemically transfers to the seabed and into rock when they die.

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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What is the carbon cycle?

Back

The movement of carbon between stores on land, oceans and atmosphere.

Card 3

Front

What are sources of carbon?

Back

Card 4

Front

What are carbon sinks?

Back

Card 5

Front

What are carbon fluxes?

Back

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Biological carbon cycle