7.6_The Carbon Cycle (slow)

How long may it take for a carbon molecule to travel through the slow carbon cycle? How does this compare to the fast carbon cycle?

Describe how precipitation connects to the slow carbon cycle.

Describe how surface runoff connects to the slow carbon cycle.

Describe how oil, coal and natural gas are created in the carbon cycle.

Exit Ticket:

Put all of the steps of the slow carbon cycle in order, starting with acid rain.

1. Atmospheric Carbon (carbon dioxide) reacts with water in the atmosphere to create acid rain
2. Limestone on the ocean floor is subducted (moved beneath) overriding crustal plates and melted in the upper mantle of the Earth's interior (a process taking over 100 million years).
3. Acid rain falls and dissolves rocks through chemical weathering
4. Calcium, magnesium and sodium ions from weathered rocks are carried into the ocean by rivers
5. Volcanos release carbon dioxide gas converted from limestone deep beneath the surface of the Earth in a process called outgassing.
6. Calcium ions combine with bicarbonate ions to form calcium carbonate, which is what animals like corals, barnacles and mollusks use to make their shells.
7. Organisms with calcium carbonate die and sink to the ocean floor, compacting together and forming limestone.