Lecture

The Carbon Cycle: A Global Perspective

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Description

This lecture explores the carbon cycle, the most significant biogeochemical cycle involving exchanges between the atmosphere, geosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere, with a significant impact on climate. It covers the constant cycling of carbon through various processes like photosynthesis, respiration, biodegradation, and biomineralization. The distribution of carbon in different reservoirs such as rocks, oceans, soils, atmosphere, and land plants is discussed, along with the major carbon fluxes and rates. Additionally, the lecture delves into the microbiological carbon cycle, highlighting the extensive transformation of carbon through oxidative and reductive pathways, including the production of methane. The complex interplay between the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, and sulfur cycle is also examined, emphasizing the challenges in predicting global cycles and understanding their importance in shaping life on Earth.

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Related concepts (32)

Carbon cycle

The carbon cycle is that part of the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of Earth. Other major biogeochemical cycles include the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle. Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well as a major component of many minerals such as limestone. The carbon cycle comprises a sequence of events that are key to making Earth capable of sustaining life.

Biogeochemical cycle

A biogeochemical cycle, or more generally a cycle of matter, is the movement and transformation of chemical elements and compounds between living organisms, the atmosphere, and the Earth's crust. Major biogeochemical cycles include the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle. In each cycle, the chemical element or molecule is transformed and cycled by living organisms and through various geological forms and reservoirs, including the atmosphere, the soil and the oceans.

Oceanic carbon cycle

The oceanic carbon cycle (or marine carbon cycle) is composed of processes that exchange carbon between various pools within the ocean as well as between the atmosphere, Earth interior, and the seafloor. The carbon cycle is a result of many interacting forces across multiple time and space scales that circulates carbon around the planet, ensuring that carbon is available globally.

Biogeochemistry

Biogeochemistry is the scientific discipline that involves the study of the chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and reactions that govern the composition of the natural environment (including the biosphere, the cryosphere, the hydrosphere, the pedosphere, the atmosphere, and the lithosphere). In particular, biogeochemistry is the study of biogeochemical cycles, the cycles of chemical elements such as carbon and nitrogen, and their interactions with and incorporation into living things transported through earth scale biological systems in space and time.

Marine biogeochemical cycles

Marine biogeochemical cycles are biogeochemical cycles that occur within marine environments, that is, in the saltwater of seas or oceans or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. These biogeochemical cycles are the pathways chemical substances and elements move through within the marine environment. In addition, substances and elements can be imported into or exported from the marine environment. These imports and exports can occur as exchanges with the atmosphere above, the ocean floor below, or as runoff from the land.

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