Notesale: Turn your study into money

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above

---

Evaluate the relative importance of natural and human factors in driving change in the carbon cycle
over time
...
There are
many stores in the carbon cycle such as, the lithosphere
...

The main stores within the carbon cycle are not evenly distributed throughout Earth because of the
geographical components such as the land and ocean
...
The
largest store is Marine sediments and sedimentary rock
...

The lithosere is a natural factor in the carbon cycle, the lithosere is vegetation succession that occurs
on bare rock
...
Due to the process of
weathering the rock may slowly be broken down and carbon stored for millions of years can be
released, often dissolve in water
...
Organic matter is added to the broken down rock, and soil
develops that can support plants, storing and exchanging carbon
...

Other seres include, the hydropsere, halosere and the psammosere
...

Another main store is the ocean, the ocean is a very important carbon store as carbon is absorbed
directly from the atmosphere
...
The third main store is human, fossil and fuel deposits hold 4000 billion metric tons of
carbon
...
Since the industrial revolution they have been used for heat
and energy
...
The carbon emissions from doing this can be reduced through carbon sequestration
which is a transfer of carbon, further reducing the affects of global warming
...
However human factors affecting the carbon cycle
can affect natural transfers
...
Photosynthesis is where plants use the light energy from the sun to
produce glucose
...
The
absorbed light converts carbon dioxide in the air and water from the soil into glucose
...
This process releases oxygen into the air
...

Respiration is a process that happens in all cells
...
Carbon dioxide is then returned to the atmosphere
...
When organisms die overtime they are
consumed by decomposers, carbon is taken from their bodies and then returned to the atmosphere
...
Organic
material is also burnt, for example as coal
...
The carbon is then released back into the
atmosphere, returning the carbon
...

Carbon sequestering is the transfer of carbon from the atmosphere to plants, soil, rock formations and
oceans
...

Wild fires occur naturally by lightning strikes, however wild fires are increasing started by people
...
Hot and cold conditions also have an impact on carbon stores, transfers and climate
change
...
Throughout the Quaternary period, from
2
...
The trend for temperature and carbon dioxide mirror each other, the higher temperature
the higher the amount of carbon dioxde
...
This is a consequence from natural and human processes affecting the carbon cycle
...
The spike
in carbon dioxide however is mainly because of human factors affecting the carbon cycle such as the
extraction and burning of fossil fuels
...

Overall most factors causing a change in the carbon cycle are natural, however human activity affects
the natural processes such as speeding up glacial retreat as temperatures increase
...
This has now
caused a positive feedback loop speeding up the natural occurrence of global warming potentially
have negative effects on the environment over time

---