CARBON

CYCLE
Click to add text

Made by Madhav Pandey

IX A
The c a r b o n c y c l e is the biogeochemical cycle by which
carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere,
geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the earth.
Carbon is the main component of biological compounds
as well as a major component of many minerals such as
limestone. Along with the nitrogen cycle and the water Wh at is Car b on
cycle, the carbon cycle comprises a sequence of events
Cycle?
that are key to make Earth capable of sustaining life. It
describes the movement of carbon as it is recycled and
reused throughout the biosphere, as well as long -term
processes of carbon sequestration to and release
from carbon sinks.

The carbon cycle was discovered by Antoine

Lavoisier and Joseph Priestley, and popularised
by Humphry Davy.
The global carbon cycle is now usually divided into the following
major reservoirs of carbon interconnected by pathways of
exchange:
 The atmosphere
 The terrestrial biosphere M ain
 The ocean, including dissolved inorganic carbon and living
and non -living marine biota Co m p on en ts o f
 The sediments, including fossil fuels, freshwater systems, and
non-living organic material. Car b on Cycle
 The Ear th's interior (mantle and crust). These carbon stores
interact with the other components through geological
processes.
The carbon exchanges between reser voirs occur as the result of
various chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes.
The ocean contains the largest active pool of carbon near the
sur face of the Ear th. The natural f lows of carbon between the
atmosphere, ocean, terrestrial ecosystems, and sediments are
fairly balanced so that carbon levels would be roughly stable
without human inf luence.
Carbon in the Earth's atmosphere exists in two main
forms: carbon dioxide and methane. Both of these
gases absorb and retain heat in the atmosphere and are
partially responsible for the greenhouse effect. Methane Atm o s p h er e
produces a larger greenhouse effect per volume as
compared to carbon dioxide, but it exists in much lower
concentrations and is more short -lived than carbon
dioxide, making carbon dioxide the more important
greenhouse gas of the two.
The terrestrial biosphere includes the organic carbon in
Ter r es tr ia l
all land-living organisms, both alive and dead, as well
as carbon stored in soils. About 500 gigatons of carbon b i o s p h er e
are stored above ground in plants and other living
organisms, while soil holds approximately 1,500
gigatons of carbon. Most carbon in the terrestrial
biosphere is organic carbon, while about a third of soil
carbon is stored in inorganic forms, such as calcium
carbonate. Organic carbon is a major component of all
organisms living on earth. Autotrophs extract it from
the air in the form of carbon dioxide, converting it into
organic carbon, while heterotrophs receive carbon by
consuming other organisms.
The ocean can be conceptually divided into a surface Ocean
layer within which water makes frequent (daily to
annual) contact with the atmosphere, and a deep layer
below the typical mixed layer depth of a few hundred
meters or less, within which the time between
consecutive contacts may be centuries. The dissolved
inorganic carbon (DIC) in the surface layer is
exchanged rapidly with the atmosphere, maintaining
equilibrium.
The geologic component of the carbon cycle operates
slowly in comparison to the other parts of the global
carbon cycle. It is one of the most important determinants
of the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, and thus of
global temperatures. Most of the earth's carbon is stored
inertly in the earth's lithosphere. Much of the carbon
Geo sp h er e
stored in the earth's mantle was stored there when the
earth formed. Some of it was deposited in the form of
organic carbon from the biosphere. Of the carbon stored
in the geosphere, about 80% is limestone and its
derivatives, which form from the sedimentation of calcium
carbonate stored in the shells of marine organisms. The
remaining 20% is stored as kerogens formed through the
sedimentation and burial of terrestrial organisms under
high heat and pressure. Organic carbon stored in the
geosphere can remain there for millions of years.
Although deep carbon cycling is not as well -understood
as carbon movement through the atmosphere, Deep
terrestrial biosphere, ocean, and geosphere, it is
nonetheless an incredibly important process. The deep
car b on cycle
carbon cycle is intimately connected to the movement
of carbon in the Earth's surface and atmosphere. If the
process did not exist, carbon would remain in the
atmosphere, where it would accumulate to extremely
high levels over long periods of time. Therefore, by
allowing carbon to return to the Earth, the deep carbon
cycle plays a critical role in maintaining the terrestrial
conditions necessary for life to exist.
Carbon principally enters the mantle in the form of carbonate -
rich sediments on tectonic plates of ocean crust, which pull the
carbon into the mantle upon undergoing subduction. Not much
is known about carbon circulation in the mantle, especially in
Car b on in th e
the deep Ear th, but many studies have attempted to augment
our understanding of the element's movement and forms within
lo w er m an tle
said region. For instance, a 2011 study demonstrated that
carbon cycling extends all the way to the lower mantle. The
study analyzed rare, super-deep diamonds at a site Juina,
Brazil, determining that the bulk composition of some of the
diamonds' inclusions matched the expected result of basalt
melting and cr ytallisation under lower mantle temperatures and
pressures. Thus, the investigation's f indings indicate that pieces
of basaltic oceanic lithosphere act as the principle transport
mechanism for carbon to Ear th's deep interior. These subducted
carbonates can interact with lower mantle silicates, eventually
forming super -deep diamonds like the one found.
Although the presence of carbon in the Ear th's core is well -
constrained, recent studies suggest large inventories of carbon
could be stored in this region. Because the core's composition is
believed to be an alloy of cr ystalline iron and a small amount of Car b on in th e
nickel, this seismic anomaly indicates the presence of light
elements, including carbon, in the core. In fact, studies using co r e
diamond anvil cells to replicate the conditions in the Ear th's
core indicate that iron carbide (Fe 7 C 3 ) matches the inner core's
wave speed and density. Therefore, the iron carbide model could
ser ve as an evidence that the core holds as much as 67% of the
Ear th's carbon. Fur thermore, another study found that in the
pressure and temperature condition of the Ear th's inner core,
carbon dissolved in iron and formed a stable phase with the
same Fe 7 C 3 composition—albeit with a dif ferent structure from
the one previously mentioned. In summar y, although the
amount of carbon potentially stored in the Ear th's core is not
known, recent studies indicate that the presence of iron
carbides can explain some of the geophysical obser vations.
S i n c e t h e i n d u s t r i a l r e vo l u t i o n , h u m a n a c t i v i t y h a s m o d i f i e d t h e c a r b o n c y c l e b y
changing its components' functions and directly adding carbon to
t h e a t m o s p h e r e . T h e l a r g e s t h u m a n i m p a c t o n t h e c a r b o n c yc l e i s t h r o u g h d i r e c t
e m i s s i o n s f r o m b u r n i n g f o s s i l f u e l s , w h i c h t ra n s f e r s c a r b o n f r o m t h e g e o s p h e r e
into the atmosphere. The rest of this increase is caused mostly by changes in
land-use, particularly deforestation. H u m an
H u m a n s a l s o i n f l u e n c e t h e c a r b o n c yc l e i n d i r e c t l y b y c h a n g i n g t h e t e r r e s t r i a l
a n d o c e a n i c b i o s p h e r e . O ve r t h e p a s t s e ve ra l c e n t u r i e s , d i r e c t a n d i n d i r e c t
h u m a n - c a u s e d l a n d u s e a n d l a n d c ove r c h a n g e ( LU C C ) h a s l e d t o t h e l o s s o f
I n f lu en ce
b i o d i ve r s i t y, w h i c h l o w e r s e c o s y s t e m s ' r e s i l i e n c e t o e n v i r o n m e n t a l s t r e s s e s a n d
d e c r e a s e s t h e i r a b i l i t y t o r e m ov e c a r b o n f r o m t h e a t m o s p h e r e . M o r e d i r e c t l y, i t
often leads to the release of carbon from terrestrial ecosystems into the
a t m o s p h e r e . D e f o r e s t a t i o n f o r a g r i c u l t u ra l p u r p o s e s r e m ov e s f o r e s t s , w h i c h h o l d
l a r g e a m o u n t s o f c a r b o n , a n d r e p l a c e s t h e m , g e n e ra l l y w i t h a g r i c u l t u ra l o r
u r b a n a r e a s . B o t h o f t h e s e r e p l a c e m e n t l a n d c ove r t y p e s s t o r e c o m p a ra t i v e l y
small amounts of carbon so that the net product of the process is that more
carbon stays in the atmosphere. Humans also affect the oceanic carbon
c yc l e . C u r r e n t t r e n d s i n c l i m a t e c h a n g e l e a d t o h i g h e r o c e a n t e m p e ra t u r e s , t h u s
m o d i f y i n g e c o s y s t e m s . A l s o, a c i d ra i n a n d p o l l u t e d r u n o f f f r o m a g r i c u l t u r e a n d
industr y change the ocean's chemical composition. Such changes can have
d ra m a t i c e f f e c t s o n h i g h l y s e n s i t i v e e c o s y s t e m s s u c h a s c o ra l
reefs, thus limiting the ocean's ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere on
a r e g i o n a l s c a l e a n d r e d u c i n g o c e a n i c b i o d i ve r s i t y g l o b a l l y. A r c t i c m e t h a n e
emissions indirectly caused by anthropogenic global warming also affect the
carbon cycle and contribute to fur ther warming in what is known as climate
change feedback.