Long-Term Storage Lab Report

1307 Words6 Pages

Another long-term storage method is sedimentary rock. Carbon compounds get washed down to the bottom of the ocean (through removal) where it slowly gets buried and compressed as other compounds such as bones of marine life fall of top of it. After being buried and compressed for years these carbon compounds are eventually compressed into limestone, which is the largest source of carbon in the carbon cycle.

The last long-term storage method is subduction resulting in “carbon rich metamorphic and igneous rocks.” When the tectonic plates are compressed there is extreme heat metamorphic rocks are formed. They are a high source of carbon and store carbon long-term.

How the key stages, addition, removal and storage are linked?

The key stages are linked because no new carbon is ever made on earth. The same carbon is just re-used and moved for different things. An example of this is…

A plant removes carbon from the atmosphere in through photosynthesis. Using short-term storage this plant stores this carbon as starch. An animal then eats this starch. Again the carbon is stored in …show more content…

Although this is only a 1-degree difference it has had a huge difference in the eco systems and in the oceans ability to absorb carbon. As mentioned in removal, there are two main ways carbon is removed from the atmosphere, photosynthesis and dissolving in oceans. However the warmer the ocean the less carbon it can absorb. When the oceans heat up they can’t absorb as much carbon, which means that it is staying and building up in the atmosphere. In 1800 combined with photosynthesis and the oceans, pretty much all of the carbon could be removed however now, the rising ocean temperatures combined with deforestation, less of the carbon in the atmosphere can be absorbed which eventually will have catastrophic