Carbon Cycle

Review
- Defining the Earth's temperature

- What drives the greenhouse effect?

1. Organic Carbon Burial and weathering - removal of carbon from the system
2. Tectonics - added CO2 from the mantle
3. Carbonate-silicate cycle - removal and addition of CO2

The Carbon Cycle

- Carbonate-silicate Cycle
• A long-term feedback, controlling CO2 concentration
• Driven by the formation of carbonic acid
𝐶𝑂! + 𝐻! 𝑂 → 𝐻! 𝐶𝑂"
• Assists in weathering of rocks

- Rock Weathering
• Assume two types of rock exist (and approximate their chemical compositions):
1. Carbonate - CaCO3
2. Silicate - CaSiO3
• Carbonate Weathering
𝐶𝑎𝐶𝑂" + 𝐻! 𝐶𝑂" → 𝐶𝑎!# + 2𝐻𝐶𝑂"$
○ Consumes 1 unit of carbonic acid (derived from CO2).
○ Produces 2 units of bicarbonate.
• Silicate Weathering
𝐶𝑎𝑆𝑖𝑂" + 2𝐻! 𝐶𝑂" → 𝐶𝑎!# + 𝑆𝑖𝑂! + 2𝐻𝐶𝑂"$ + 𝐻! 𝑂
○ Consumes 2 units of carbonic acid (derived from CO2).
○ Produces 2 units of bicarbonate.

- What happens next?

• In the ocean: Biomineralization, SiO2 & CaCO3 (microscopic algae that use the silic
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cate and carbonate to

 " ! " ! " !
○ Consumes 2 units of carbonic acid (derived from CO2).
○ Produces 2 units of bicarbonate.

- What happens next?

• In the ocean: Biomineralization, SiO2 & CaCO3 (microscopic algae that use the silic
make skeletons)
𝐶𝑎!# + 2𝐻𝐶𝑂"$ → 𝐶𝑎𝐶𝑂" + 𝐻! 𝐶𝑂" → 𝐻! 𝑂 + 𝐶𝑂! + 𝐶𝑎𝐶𝑂"
○ Consumes 1 CO2, produces 1 CO2
𝐶𝑎!# + 𝑆𝑖𝑂! + 2𝐻𝐶𝑂"$ + 𝐻! 𝑂 → 𝑆𝑖𝑂! + 𝐶𝑎𝐶𝑂" + 𝐻! 𝐶𝑂" → 𝐻! 𝑂 + 𝐶𝑂! + 𝐶𝑎
○ Consumes 2 CO2, produces 1 CO2
Net removal of one CO2
Net reaction: 𝐶𝑎𝑆𝑖𝑂" + 𝐶𝑂! → 𝐶𝑎𝐶𝑂" + 𝑆𝑖𝑂!
• CO2 removed at a rate of 0.2 Gt/year from the atmosphere - would deplete from
20,000 years (yet this doesn't happen cause this CO2 gets returned to the atmosp

- Long term feedback

• Higher surface temperature -> Higher humidity -> more rainfall -> higher silicate w
• Higher silicate weathering rate -> Decrease in atmospheric CO2 concentration ->
• See class slides for feedback cycle
• Loop is dominated by negative feedbacks (2 negative, one positive)

- What happens as the sun warms?

• Solar luminosity increase decreases the concentration of CO2

- Runway Greenhouse Effect

• Happened on Venus
• Over long time periods, carbonate rocks are incredibly important to the carbon cy

- Carbonate Rocks
• Gigantic reservoir of carbon
• Small flux
• Long residence time - about 200 million years
• Accounts for about 80% of carbon removal over long amouts of time
• Only oxidized carbon

- Chemistry of Carbon
Most Oxidized Most Reduced
CO2 CO CH2Cl2 CH3Cl2 CH4
Carbonates
Organic Compounds

- What effect does biology have on the carbon cycle?

• Conversion of CO2 to organic carbon (reduction)
• Decay of organic compounds can give you the production of CO2 from organic car
cate and carbonate to
𝑎𝐶𝑂" + 𝑆𝑖𝑂!
the atmosphere in about
phere with plate tectonics)
weathering rate
ycle
rbon
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- What effect does biology have on the carbon cycle?
• Conversion of CO2 to organic carbon (reduction)
• Decay of organic compounds can give you the production of CO2 from organic car
• Transport CO2 to soils/enhanced weathering
• Transport organic carbon to deep water

- Carbon fixation = autotrophy

𝐶𝑂! + 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠 → 𝐶𝐻! 𝑂
• Where to the electrons come from?
1. A chemical (e.g. H2S) - chemoautotrphy
2. A reaction between a chemical and light (e.g. H2O) - photoautotrophy
• NPP = Net Primary Productivity

- Photosynthetic Organisms
• Anoxygenic Photosynthesis
○ Green and purple (sulfur and non-sulfur) bacteria and heliobacteria
• Oxygenic Photosynthesis
○ Cyanobacteria

- Pigments
• Light harvesting pigments
○ Bacteriochlorophyll (bchl) for anoxygenic photosynthesis
○ Chlorophyll for oxygenic photosynthesis
○ Different varieties that can absorb light at different wavelengths

- Connections to the O2 cycle

• Event in earth history called the "great oxidation event" - about 2.5 billion years a
O2 concentration went up in a step function-like way

- Carbon Fixation
1. Generate a high-energy electron (from chemicals or light)
2. Donate that electron to CO2 through a pathway

- Carbon fixation pathways

• Calvin cycle - most widely known
• rTCA cycle
• Acetyl-coA pathway
• Important globally. More detail when we get to isotopes

- Organic carbon oxidation = heterotrophy

𝐶𝐻! 𝑂 + 𝑇𝐸𝐴 → 𝐶𝑂! + 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠
TEA = Terminal Electron Acceptor

- "Removing" carbon from the system by burial

• 80% carbonates
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- Organic carbon oxidation = heterotrophy
𝐶𝐻! 𝑂 + 𝑇𝐸𝐴 → 𝐶𝑂! + 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠
TEA = Terminal Electron Acceptor

- "Removing" carbon from the system by burial

• 80% carbonates
• 20% organic carbon

- Proterozoic Era
• Large increase of flux of organic carbon into sediments
• More oxygen goes into the atmosphere and creates another step function change

- Carbon cycle linked to O2 cycle

• Surface Ocean Processes: Photosynthesis, fecal-pellet production, oxygen produc
𝐶𝑂! + 𝐻! 𝑂 → 𝐶𝐻! 𝑂 + 𝑂!
• Deep Ocean Processes: Decomposition, nutrient release, oxygen consumption
𝐶𝐻! 𝑂 + 𝑂! → 𝐶𝑂! + 𝐻! 𝑂

- O2 cycle feedbacks
• Positive coupling between carbon burial and oxygen accumulation
• Negative coupling between oxygen accumulation and carbon oxidation
• Overall negative feedback loop
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ction