System Earth 6b

Carbon cycle 1

Misha Velthuis

m.velthuis@uva.nl

Fri 11 Oct 2024

Content

Short-term and long-term

Marine and terrestrial

Carbon cycle

Carbon cycles

Organic

Inorganic

Day 1 (long-term organic carbon cycle) RED

We will …

1.1] … visit the excavation of a large Tertiary brown coal deposit near Lützerath

1.2] .. explore the debris from a closed coal mine

Day 2 (long-term organic and inorganic carbon cycle) GREEN

We will …

2.1] … study the profile of a coal-rich Carboniferous outcrop to bring to life the environment of their formation

2.2] … visit a Devonian carbonate reef, made up of Devonian CO2, captured and turned into calcite by Devonian reef builders.

Day 3 (long-term inorganic carbon cycle) YELLOW

We will …

3.1a] … visit a dormant volcano in the Eifel that still releases CO2 from deep volcanic vents, and in doing so, balances the precipitated carbon that tectonic movements have dragged into the planet’s interior.

3.1b] … witness the interaction of (volcanic) CO2 and water, which is analogous to the take up of CO2 by (and acidification of) oceans

3.2] … enjoy and re-purpose this (and other) carbon by having food and drinks together in the Vulkan brauhaus

Multiple carbon cycles

Short-term
terrestrial
organic carbon cycle

Photosynthesis

CO₂ + H₂O → CH₂O + O₂

Respiration/ decomposition

CH₂O + O₂ → CO₂ + H₂O

Short-term organic carbon cycle

Stocks in Gt(C) and flows in Gt(C)/yr

Although, spatial variation

BTW… Carbon dating the graph

Number of moles in the atmosphere: 1.78E20 (link)

Current CO2 concentration: 425 ppm (link)

number_moles = 1.78*(10**20)
share_current_co2 = 425/1000000

mass_C = 12

gram = mass_C*share_current_co2 * number_moles
Gt = gram/(1000*1000*1000000000)
print(Gt)

old_share = (760 * (1000*1000*1000000000))/(number_moles*mass_C)
old_ppm = old_share * 1000000

print(old_ppm)

Now C in atmosphere = 900 Gt(C)

CO2 concentration of the graph = 355 ppm

Which was around 1991 (check link) (or NH winter 1993 at most).

Short-term
marine
organic carbon cycle

Phytoplankton

Phytoplankton and zooplankton

Diatom (algae)

Cocolithophorid

Foraminifera (zooplankton)

Biological pump

biological pump.png

Input of organic material by phytoplankton (and then zooplankton).

Oxygen

Photic zone: high O₂ because diffusion with atmosphere + photosynthesis
Oxygen minimum zone: low O₂ because of decomposition/respiration + distance from atmosphere
Higher depths: high O₂ because bottom water was cold during subsidence, and solubility of gases increases as temperature of water decreases (which is why a coke is much more fizzy when it's cold).

Nutrients

Photic zone: primary production → nutrient depletion
Settling and decomposition of organic matter: high nutrient availability

Carbon dioxide

Photic zone: photosynthesis → low CO₂
Higher depths, more CO₂ producing decomposition and respiration of settling organic matter + less CO₂ consuming primary production → increase of CO2
Bottom water = cold = high solubility for CO₂

Impact of aging bottom water

Nutrients increase

Oxygen decreases

But still: short-term organic carbon cycle

Long-term
organic
carbon cycle

Long-term organic carbon cycle

Fossil carbon of terrestrial origin

Fossil carbon of marine origin

Tuesday

The inorganic carbon cycle!

my (none of your)
Business card

Personal projects

Mastodon account: https://social.edu.nl/deck/@MishaVelthuis

Blog: https://mishathings.org/

Music: https://mishathings.org/music_things/

Reading: https://bookrastinating.com/user/misha/books/read

OpenTech(AUC)

We are a group of students and staff members at Amsterdam University College. We care about Open Standards, Free Software, and Open Data.

We believe that people need to take back control over their digital lives, and we believe that we, at the university, have a big responsibility to help each other do so.

https://opentech-auc.org/

See for example: the internet is broken and this is what we can do about it.

Staff Students Platform

Staff Students Platform (SSP) is a bottom-up, grassroots collective of students and staff who are determined to work together to organize and facilitate the kind of events that we feel are necessary to (re)build understanding at AUC, in the face of the ongoing violence in Palestine and the protests addressing it.

https://staffstudentsplatform-auc.org/

System Earth 6b

Carbon cycle 1

Misha Velthuis

m.velthuis@uva.nl

Fri 11 Oct 2024

Content

Carbon cycle

Carbon cycles

Multiple carbon cycles

Short-term terrestrial organic carbon cycle

Short-term organic carbon cycle

Although, spatial variation

BTW… Carbon dating the graph

Short-term marine organic carbon cycle

Phytoplankton

Phytoplankton and zooplankton

Biological pump

Impact of aging bottom water

But still: short-term organic carbon cycle

Long-term organic carbon cycle

Long-term organic carbon cycle

Fossil carbon of terrestrial origin

Fossil carbon of marine origin

Tuesday

my (none of your)Business card

Short-term
terrestrial
organic carbon cycle

Short-term
marine
organic carbon cycle

Long-term
organic
carbon cycle

my (none of your)
Business card