13ESS Oceans - Carbon

Carbon Cycle

100

Reservoir

Somewhere that carbon stays for a while eg. atmosphere, lithosphere, ocean

200

Deep Layer

Cold dense bottom layer of the ocean where carbon can be stored for up to 10,000 years

300

Carbon Dioxide

Main form of carbon in the atmosphere

400

Greenhouse Gas

Gasses that trap heat energy inside Earth's atmosphere causing surface temperatures to rise eg. carbon dioxide

500

Lithosphere

Rocks - reservoir where carbon gets stored for the longest time eg. limestone, coal, fossil fuels

Physical

100

Mixed Layer

Upper 200m of the ocean, low density warm water

200

Dissolving and Diffusing

How carbon dioxide moves into the mixed layer of the ocean

300

Downwelling

How carbon dioxide moves into the deep layer of the ocean this happens at the poles

400

Warm Water

Warm water cannot hold onto dissolved gas so it comes out of solution and back into the atmosphere

500

Upwelling

Process of water moving from the deep layer to mixed layer taking carbon with it

Biological

100

Phytoplankton

Small organisms that do photosynthesis bringing carbon dioxide out of the atmsphere and into the ocean

200

Photosynthesis

Carbon dioxide and water are used to make sugar 

300

Shell building

Organisms use calcium and carbonate ions from the water to build shells

400

Marine Snow

When organisms with shells die some of them will sink to the bottom of the ocean taking carbon with them

500

Burial and Compaction

Ooze on the bottom of the ocean turns into limestone through these processes

Reactions

100

pH 1 - 6

Acidic solutions with lots of H+ in them

200

H₂CO₃

Carbonic acid

300

HCO₃^-

Bicarbonate ion

400

CO₃^2-

Carbonate ion

500

Equilibrium reactions

Reactions that go forward when there are more reactants than products and backwards when there are more products than reactants

Acidification

100

pH 8

Current pH of the ocean

200

Carbonic Acid

Forms when carbon dioxide dissolves into water 

300

H+

Hydrogen ions when concentration of these increases the pH decreases and water becomes more acidic

400

Impact of acidification on shell building

Calcium carbonate reacts with H+ ions and dissolves them

500

Impact of acidification on equilibrium reactions

Carbonate reaction goes backwards due to excess H+ and there is less material for shells to be built from