Carbon cycle

Typical exam questions

• a) List 2 solids, 2 liquids, and 2 gases that are a part of the global carbon cycle
• b) For each of the six answers for part (a), give its preceding form in the carbon cycle and also the form it takes when it breaks down or is transformed to the next step of the carbon cycle.

2. Discuss the relative time scales for storing carbon in corn stalks, oak trees, and deep-sea marine shell fish. Compare these with the lifetime of carbon in the atmosphere.

3. Why is it important to be able to account for all fluxes of carbon in the earth/atmosphere/ocean system?

4. List three distinct molecules in the atmosphere that contain carbon and give a natural source and an anthropogenic source of each.