The carbon cycle is the process by which carbon is exchanged between the Earth's atmosphere, oceans, land, and living organisms. It is a critical component of the Earth's climate system, as it helps to regulate the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere.
Carbon is constantly being exchanged between the atmosphere, oceans, and land through various processes. For example, plants absorb CO2 from the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis and convert it into organic matter. When animals consume plants or other organisms, the carbon is transferred from the plants to the animals. When animals respire or decompose, the carbon is returned to the atmosphere as CO2.
The oceans also play a role in the carbon cycle. They absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, and the carbon is then transferred to marine plants and animals through the process of photosynthesis. When these organisms die, the carbon is returned to the oceans in the form of organic matter. Some of this organic matter sinks to the ocean floor and is converted into fossil fuels, such as oil and natural gas, over millions of years.
Human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, have a significant impact on the carbon cycle. The burning of fossil fuels releases large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, leading to an increase in atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Deforestation also contributes to an increase in atmospheric CO2, as trees absorb CO2 as they grow and release it when they die or are burned.
Overall, the carbon cycle is a complex process that plays a crucial role in regulating the Earth's climate. It is important to understand the carbon cycle and how human activities can affect it in order to mitigate the negative effects of climate change.
Biogeochemical Cycles
Carbon dioxide is released from the burning of fossil fuels to power farming equipment, from the mining of minerals and the making of fertilizer. Recently, people have been causing these biogeochemical cycles to change. Process Carbon starts as Carbon ends as Photosynthesis Carbon dioxide Glucose Respiration Glucose Carbon dioxide Combustion burning Fuel eg methane or wood Carbon dioxide. The impacts of enteric fermentation and manure management for almost 90 million animals are very significant, as seen in Figure 7. For example, an atom of carbon is absorbed from the air into the ocean water where it is used by little floating plankton doing photosynthesis to get the nutrition they need.
Some carbon trapped in the sediments forms gas and oil. In this way, changes in nutrient supply will affect the entire food chain. Biomass, which is biological material derived from living, or recently living organisms, is a much smaller reservoir of carbon. Carbon Cycle The carbon cycle represents the transportation of carbon in its elemental and mixed states throughout the planet. Also, open soil on the fields between crops, during the winter months, or as a result of overgrazing allows for the air to penetrate deep into the soil structure. Such a massive amount of photosynthesis occurs on Earth that no other single flux moves as much carbon in the same timeframe. Photosynthesis takes place in organelles called chloroplasts, shown in Figure 7.
But the other thing that can happen is that, when they die, they can precipitate down into the deep ocean and when that happens because ocean circulation is so slow that carbon can be stored or sequestered in the ocean for a very long period of time. In contrast, the residence time of carbon in the fossil pool is dramatically different. As the manure is handled or stored for future use, methane is also released to the environment. This decreased biomass leads to lower total photosynthesis rates, thereby decreasing the amount of CO 2 that is removed from the atmosphere and turned into plant biomass. Combustion may also be used as an efficient way to clear the land and make way for crops or grazing lands for livestock.
All of the carbon that is currently stored in all of the vegetation on Earth got there through the process of photosynthesis. This is particularly apparent when comparing the data for Western Europe to that of India and Southeast Asia. The use of nitrogen-rich fertilizers can cause nutrient loading in nearby waterways as nitrates from the fertilizer wash into streams and ponds. When these limestone rocks are exposed to air, the carbon is weathered and released as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Land plants take up about a quarter of all carbon dioxide that enters the atmosphere.
Explain carbon cycle with the help of a diagram. [5 MARKS]
The Carbon Cycle The element carbon is a part of seawater, the atmosphere, rocks such as limestone and coal, soils, as well as all living things. One of the most important carbon compounds in the atmosphere is carbon dioxide CO 2 , while in rocks carbon is major component of limestone, coal, oil and gas. Why or why not? Farming also affects the nitrogen cycle. Deep ocean Most of the carbon entering the ocean ends up in the deep ocean where it can be carried by currents for hundreds of years or be lost in sediments. When temperatures remain cold all year-round organic material decays very slowly, and it remains in the soil.
. As countries industrialize, their relationship with agriculture also changes. In this process, plants release Oxygen as a by product. All plants and animals need nitrogen to make amino acids, proteins and DNA, but the nitrogen in the atmosphere is not in a form that they can use. The oceans, and other bodies of water, absorb some carbon from the atmosphere.
It is so named because carbon flows through the various carbon reservoirs in a matter of days, months, or years. When fossil fuels are burned, carbon that had been underground is sent into the air as carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. When the remains have been around for thousands of years, they become fossil fuels, and these are huge reservoirs of Carbon. Carbon is also prevalent in soils, rocks and sediments, water bodies dissolved , and the atmosphere. What are the differences in contributions of greenhouse gas emissions from more-industrialized countries and less-industrialized countries? The ocean, as with all surface water bodies, always contains some dissolved CO2. Carbon is the building block of life and forms stable bonds with other elements required for life, according to biology. Throughout most of our recent human history, people have been physically altering the landscape around them in order to have more control over their surroundings and increase their odds of survival.
In combustion, all of this energy is released rapidly in the form of light and heat. However, the magnitude of our impacts has changed dramatically throughout history. Data from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center CDIAC The data shown in Figure 7. Fossil fuels form over a course of 300-400 million years, forming from ancient plants and animals that decomposed slowly under very specific, anaerobic without oxygen conditions in wetland environments. If you have ever burned logs on a campfire, or even burned food on the stove, you have completed this flux of biomass combustion.
Oceans absorb more carbon than they emit from an ecological standpoint. Through the process of photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is pulled from the air to produce food made from carbon for plant growth. It is the basic building block of all life forms, and is crucial for their survival. Of course, this happens naturally as well, the best example being natural forest fires caused by lightning strikes. Explanation of the Carbon Cycle The Carbon cycle implies the exchange of Carbon between the various organic and inorganic elements in the atmosphere and the biosphere. As you can see in Figure 7.
As a person living in the United States, industrialized agriculture probably produces the vast majority of the food you eat, including grains, fruits and vegetables, dairy and eggs, meats, and even fish. As of January 2015, the United States had a total cattle inventory of 89. Deep circulation Some carbon from phytoplankton is carried by deep ocean currents that might not return it to the surface for hundreds of years. The three key processes and their conversions are shown in the table below. The waste associated with livestock farming releases a large amount of nitrogen into soil and water.
