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Understanding the Carbon Cycle

The document describes the carbon cycle, where carbon is exchanged between the atmosphere, organic matter, oceans, and the Earth's crust through various processes. The cycle consists of the transformation of carbon to be used by living beings as a source of energy and its return to the environment to be reused. The cycle includes two phases: biological, where plants fix CO2, and geological, where CO2 returns to the atmosphere.

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3 views2 pages

Understanding the Carbon Cycle

The document describes the carbon cycle, where carbon is exchanged between the atmosphere, organic matter, oceans, and the Earth's crust through various processes. The cycle consists of the transformation of carbon to be used by living beings as a source of energy and its return to the environment to be reused. The cycle includes two phases: biological, where plants fix CO2, and geological, where CO2 returns to the atmosphere.

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Carbon cycle

The biogeochemical cycle of carbon is a variety of processes where carbon is


it exchanges between the atmosphere, organic matter, the ocean, and the Earth's crust. It is
To say, the carbon cycle is a way of recycling carbon in different compounds.
chemicals, states of matter and ecosystems.

The carbon cycle consists of the transformation of this element to be used by


living beings as a source of energy, and their return to the environment, where it can be
reused again.

Characteristics of the carbon cycle

It is a global cycle: carbon is distributed throughout the Earth's sphere.


It presents different chemical compositions: we have carbon dioxide CO2in the
atmosphere and dissolved in the oceans, in proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, and other molecules
organic in living beings and as carbonates in rocks.
Flows between reservoirs or deposits: organic ones like the biomass of living organisms.
inorganic elements, such as the atmosphere and the oceans.
It presents two phases or subcycles: biological and geological.

Phases of the carbon cycle

The carbon cycle can be broken down into two phases or stages according to the processes.
physical and chemical factors involved: biological and geological.
The biological cycle begins with the fixation of CO.2by the plants and some
bacteria through photosynthesis. Terrestrial plants capture CO2from the atmosphere and
Aquatic plants obtain it from the carbon dioxide dissolved in the water.

The CO2returns to the atmosphere through the cellular respiration of living beings and the
decomposition of organic matter in the soil.

Organic deposits comprise the biomass of living organisms, the matter


organic matter buried in the depths, and the organic matter dissolved or suspended in the
oceans and in surface sediments.

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