1. CARBON CYCLE

2. Biogeochemical Cycles-
Life
Earth
Chemistry
Important cycles include Water, Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus
Cycles because there is no “start” or “finish”
Because matter is not created or destroyed but changes forms – “conservation of matter”
(there is also “conservation of energy”)

3. Carbon= “element of life”
When it comes from living sources it is called “organic”. There are also in-organic forms.
Carbon in an ecosystem resides in a variety of “pools”
It moves between pools and changes forms through various processes
Pools include: atmosphere, ocean, soil, living organisms, dead material and waste, fossil fuels
Forms include: Carbon dioxide, Bicarbonate, Carbohydrates, Organic structures, Fossil Fuels
Processes include: photosynthesis, respiration, combustion, decomposition, pressurization, absorption

5. ATMOSPHERE
In the atmosphere carbon exists mainly as carbon dioxide (CO2)
It can be absorbed by the ocean and converted to bicarbonate
It is taken in by plants during photosynthesis and converted to carbohydrates

6. OCEAN In the ocean carbon exists as bicarbonate and carbonic acid
It is absorbed from the atmosphere and can make the ocean more acidic
It can be deposited as sediment

7. Living organisms
In living organisms carbon exists as carbohydrate or organic structure
Carbohydrate may be used for energy and converted back to CO2 during cellular respiration
Carbohydrate may also stored as organic structures

8. SOIL
Carbon can be deposited in soil from decomposition of dead organic matter
Pressurization and millennia of time deep in the earth creates Fossil Fuels

9. FOSSIL FUELS
Combustion of Fossil Fuels releases CO2 back into the atmosphere
CO2 is a Greenhouse gas!