Carbon Cycle Web Quest

Carbon Cycle Web Quest

Name___________________________


Directions: Use the web resources listed on http://multiscience.blogspot.com to find examples of the following terms. Sketch an image of the term in the box beside it.


Terms:

Respiration: Talking Cell Respiration tutorial
Land biota: See below
Photosynthesis: Arizona State University
Organic Matter Soil: See below
Incineration and Fossil Fuel Combustion
Volcanic Outgassing: See below or google search

Ocean Biota:  Google Books Result, p. 58
Ocean Organic Matter: See below
Atmosphere: California Polytechnic Institute
Limestone Carbonate Sediment: See below
Fossil fuels: See below
Mineable oil and coal: See below

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_cycle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_production

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/hadleycentre/models/carbon_cycle/intro_global.html

http://www.carleton.edu/departments/geol/DaveSTELLA/Carbon/carbon_intro.htm#intro

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weathering#column-one

Analysis

Answer the following questions using the data below:

Why is carbon considered a major element in all biota on Earth? _________________________________________

Rank the estimated carbon amounts for all reservoirs on Earth from GREATEST to LEAST. You should list at least 11 sources.

In the current industrial age, carbon has risen by ____% and is expected to ______________.

Where is 97% of the carbon dioxide in the ocean? _________________________________

What FRACTION of TOTAL MASS is present in the following reservoirs of carbon?

Land__________________

Land Biota______________

Ocean_________________

Sediments______________

Carbon is
present as a small fraction of the atmosphere, oceans, and solid Earth,
typically a few hundred ppm.
It is a major element in biota (typically 10% or more) and was abundant in the
atmosphere billions of years ago. A combination of physical, chemical, and
biological processes contributed to the historical transfer of carbon from the
atmosphere to biota, soils, and sediments. These processes continue to
determine the flow rates of carbon among the major reservoirs that store carbon
today. These reservoirs include the atmosphere, ocean, terrestrial and marine
biota, soils on land, sediments, and crust, all of which are components of the geobiosphere.

3.                 
Abundance and Distribution of Carbon in the Geobiosphere

The first table and the logarithmic chart
show the estimated amounts of carbon in Gigatons in
each of the major reservoirs of the Earth including the Earth as a whole.
Seventh eighths of the carbon on Earth is in the mantle, but one eighth is
stored in sediments. The continental and oceanic crusts contain about 0.5% of
the Earth’s carbon.

About 60 ppm of the Earth’s carbon resides in the atmosphere,
oceans, land, and biota, about 90% of which is in the soil on the land. The
carbon in the atmosphere is almost entirely in the form of carbon dioxide, with
small amounts of the highly potent greenhouse gas methane. Early in the
Earth’s history, carbon was as much as 10,000 times more abundant and was
in the form of carbon dioxide and methane. In the current industrial age,
carbon dioxide has risen by about 30% and is continuing to rise.

The column showing carbon as a fraction of
the total mass of each reservoir indicates that carbon typically composes about
0.1% of a reservoir, with a somewhat greater concentration in the sediments and
thin ocean crust. The ocean and land biota concentrate carbon as a result of
photosynthesis, particular the phytomass of land
plants which have significant reservoirs of carbon stored mostly in cellulose
and other woody fibers. Ocean biota store very little carbon – marine
life is predominately short lived microscopic organisms (photosynthetic
bacteria and algae) that fix a lot of carbon which ultimately flows into other
reservoirs as we shall see in the next section.

The second table
provides a more detailed accounting of the forms of carbon in the other four
surface reservoirs.

The ocean, not
including its previously discussed biota, is a major reservoir of available
carbon in the geobiosphere. About 97% of the carbon
in the ocean is dissolved inorganic carbon, DIC, mostly carbon dioxide. Most of
the remaining 3% is dissolved organic carbon, DOC, including materials
originating in both living and dead organisms. About 0.1% of the carbon is
particulate organic carbon, POC.

As previously mentioned, the primary
difference between land biota and ocean biota is the enormous amount of carbon
stored in land plants, an amount exceeding the pre-industrial carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere. Without the evolution of long lasting plant fibers, the carbon
in land biota would be approximately 100 times smaller. In fact land plants
also have important relationships with bacteria, fungi, and animals, so the
significance of phytomass cannot be overstated.

The land itself
stores four times as much carbon as the land biota and most of it came from
land biota. Inorganic soil contains carbon in the form of CaCO3 whose abundance
is comparable to the carbon in phytomass or the
atmosphere. The other three fourths is almost 90% soil
humus (a stable form of decomposed organic matter from plants and animals) and
about 10% dead organic matter that is in the process of decaying.