Carbon Cycle Flashcards

Flashcards reviewing the carbon cycle, including key processes, reservoirs, and impacts on the environment.

What is the carbon cycle?

The movement of carbon-containing molecules like carbon dioxide, glucose, and methane between carbon sources and sinks.

What is an example of a quick step in the carbon cycle?

Combustion of fossil fuels.

What is an example of a slow step in the carbon cycle?

Sedimentation of decomposing organic matter, burial, and compression into fossil fuels.

What happens during sedimentation in the carbon cycle?

The shells of dead organisms compress and bury into sedimentary rock or fossil fuels.

What does extraction of fossil fuels refer to?

Digging up carbon and burning/combusting it.

What does digging up fossil fuels and combusting them lead to?

An imbalance and increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

What are carbon sinks?

Carbon reservoirs that store more carbon than they release, removing carbon from the atmosphere.

What are some examples of carbon sinks?

Algae, sediments, plants, and soil.

What are carbon sources?

Processes that release more carbon than they store, increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

What are some examples of carbon sources?

Fossil fuel combustion, animal agriculture, and deforestation.

What is photosynthesis?

The process where plants, algae, and phytoplankton remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it to glucose.

What is glucose?

An organic molecule, a biological form of carbon, and a storage molecule that stores energy.

Which process is a carbon sink, photosynthesis or cellular respiration?

Photosynthesis.

What is cellular respiration?

The process where organisms use oxygen to break down glucose to release energy.

Which process is a carbon source, photosynthesis or cellular respiration?

Cellular Respiration.

What does direct exchange refer to in the carbon cycle?

Carbon dioxide moves back and forth directly between the ocean and the atmosphere.

What happens as we increase the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

Carbon in the ocean leads to ocean acidification.

How is carbon dioxide taken out of the ocean?

Algae and phytoplankton take CO2 and convert it into sugars via photosynthesis. Coral reef and other marine organisms take CO2 out of the ocean to make shells of calcium carbonate.

What happens during sedimentation in the carbon cycle?

The sediments, the remains of marine organisms that sink to the bottom of the ocean floor, are smashed down to tiny little pieces.

What happens during burial with sediments in the carbon cycle?

Sediments are compressed to form sedimentary rock, such as limestone and sandstone.

What is extraction and combustion in the carbon cycle?

Digging up fossil fuels through mining and then burning them for energy, which releases CO2 into the atmosphere.

What results in CO2 being added to the atmosphere faster than it can be taken out?

Burial takes a long time, but extraction and combustion happen very quickly.