Earth's largest carbon reservoir is . a. the atmosphere b. sediments and rocks c. seawater d. li

step 1 All right. So our carbon cycle. So the carbon cycle is a pretty cool phenomenon because it's Ear

Earth's largest carbon reservoir is . a. the atmosphere b....

Key Concepts

Carbon Cycle

The carbon cycle is the process by which carbon is exchanged among the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere. This cycle is essential for maintaining the balance of carbon on Earth and involves various processes such as photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition, and sedimentation, connecting both short-term and long-term carbon reservoirs.

Carbon Reservoirs

This concept involves the various natural systems where carbon is stored on Earth, including the atmosphere, oceans, living organisms, and geological formations. Understanding carbon reservoirs is crucial for studying the carbon cycle and how carbon moves between different parts of the Earth system over various timescales.

Geological Carbon Reservoirs

Geological carbon reservoirs refer to the storage of carbon within the Earth's crust, primarily in sediments and rocks. These reservoirs are typically the largest by volume and play a major role in the long-term sequestration of carbon, influencing the Earth’s climate and geochemical cycles over millions of years.

Transcript

00:02 All right.

00:03 So our carbon cycle.

00:06 So the carbon cycle is a pretty cool phenomenon because it's earth's way of transporting carbon through the earth's different spheres.

00:16 And what i mean by the different spheres is that our earth is divided into four spheres.

00:20 We've got the hydrosphere, which is all of the water on our planet, all of our lakes, all of our rivers, our oceans.

00:27 So we've got our hydrosphere.

00:29 Now put water.

00:32 And then we've got our biosphere, which are all of the, the animals, the organisms, our plants, and so on so forth.

00:40 We are a part of the biosphere.

00:44 So i'll put org for organisms.

00:48 Then you've got the geosphere.

00:52 Oh dear.

00:53 Just ignore that line.

00:56 Okay, there we go.

00:57 So then we have our geosphere, which are all of the rocks, sediments, the earth's crust, you know, essentially, our mountains, and so on so forth, all of our rocks, the geosphere.

01:10 And then lastly, but not least, because i think it's arguably the most popular, the most notable one, is the atmosphere, which is the air on our planet.

01:27 So what the carbon cycle is responsible for is transporting carbon through these different spheres, exchanging carbon.

01:37 So each sphere gets its share.

01:41 And it does this through production of carbon.

01:44 I'll put pro for production, exchange or transportation, and storage or reservoirs.

01:55 And i'll get into the detail of all of what i'm talking about in two seconds.

02:00 So our earth, the different spheres, find ways of producing carbon.

02:09 And then through that production, it is exchanged through different spheres.

02:12 And then there are locations where lots of carbon is stored, deposits of carbon.

02:17 So let's give an example, shall we? let's start with the biosphere.

02:24 I think a biosphere is a good place to start because i think that's like the most known way of how carbon is produced, and that's through the decomposition of organisms.

02:33 So when organisms die, they release carbon dioxide into the air.

02:42 So let's draw a little elephant.

02:49 Elephant's not having a very good day today, but that's probably because he's about to die.

02:55 Let's say our elephant passes away naturally no poaching or anything like that it's loved a good life and our elephant upon death and decomposition is releasing co -t co -2 excuse me co2 carbon dioxide into the air so this is the production of carbon dioxide through decomposition carbon is being produced and through this production after this gas is produced it is exchanged or it is transported into our atmosphere.

03:26 And it does that because carbon dioxide is a gas and it rises.

03:33 So our co2 goes into the atmosphere.

03:37 And that's essentially an exchange between the biosphere, you know, our organisms and the atmosphere, like i said before.

03:46 So the biosphere has produced carbon and now it is transported that carbon to the atmosphere.

03:52 So that's production and exchange.

03:54 So let's talk about storage.

03:56 And i'm going to use actually a different example for storage.

04:01 So you could say that, you know, the atmosphere has carbon and the carbon diffuses into our oceans.

04:11 Right.

04:12 And that's an example of another exchange.

04:16 But when we're talking about storage, we're talking about areas that have lots of carbon in one place.

04:21 So a great example of a reservoir or a storage would be our ocean floors, our sediments, our crust, our earth's crust.

04:33 So on our sea floors, right, we have little shells.

04:42 And these little shells are made of calcium carbonate...

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