Earth Life Support Systems- Synoptic link to Hazardous Earth
● Water and carbon support life on Earth and move between land, oceans, atmosphere + other stores
1a. Water and carbon cycles support life on Earth and move between land, oceans and atmosphere
Carbon building block to life (natural+human availability):
● Life as we know it is carbon based: built on large molecules of CO2 atoms such as proteins,
carbohydrates and nucleic acids
● Stored in carbonate rocks such as limestone, sea floor sediments, ocean water (dissolved CO2), the
atmosphere (as gas)
● Despite biological significance also used as economic resource
● Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas power global economy
● Oil used as raw material in manufacturing
● Agricultural crops and forests- store vast amount of CO2 available for human use and products
Water and carbon cycling through open and closed
systems:
● Global scale= closed systems between land,
atmo, ocean and bio driven by sun’s energy
● Only energy (not matter) transfer cross the
boundaries of cycles, hence why they are ‘closed’
● Cycling individual H2O or CO2 atoms vary
days-millenia
● Macro scale 3 stores- land, ocean, atmosphere
● Water closed system key:
- Figures in thousands cubic
kilometres/year flows
- Thousands cubic kilometres storage
● Global carbon cycle similar series of stores +
flows
● Long-term storage in rock
contains 99.9% all carbon
on Earth
● Carbon in circulation
moves rapidly between
pathways and stores
● Main including-
photosynthesis, respiration,
oxidation
(decomp+combust) and
weathering
● Smaller scales, matter +
energy cross system
boundaries= open systems
, 1b. The Carbon and Water Cycles are systems with inputs, outputs and stores
Distribution and size of stores, characteristics of inputs and outputs of H2O+CO2 cycle:
Key:
Red=Carbon cycle, Gt (1 bn tonnes) + avg length time CO2 remains in stores
Blue=Water cycle, thousands Km3 storage, Km3/year flows, % of global water
Water cycle storage, reservoirs, inputs and outputs:
● Ocean 97% all water on planet
● Freshwater small portion
● ¾ and/or 75% frozen in ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland
● Water stored below ground in permeable rocks= ⅕ all freshwater
● Avg time water particle in atmosphere= 9 days, large flux water in and out of atmosphere
● Global water cycle budget circulates 505,00km3 a year between water stores
● Input to atmosphere include evaporated from oceans, soils, lakes and rivers, vapour transpired
through leaves= evapotranspiration
● Moisture leaves atmosphere through precipitation and condensation, melting via ablation as well as
sublimation (solid-gas)
● Precipitation and meltwater drain from the kabd as run-off, most drain to ocean, though some drain to
inland basins
● Large part of water falling as precipitation on the land reaches rivers only after infiltrating and flowing
through the soil
● Water and carbon support life on Earth and move between land, oceans, atmosphere + other stores
1a. Water and carbon cycles support life on Earth and move between land, oceans and atmosphere
Carbon building block to life (natural+human availability):
● Life as we know it is carbon based: built on large molecules of CO2 atoms such as proteins,
carbohydrates and nucleic acids
● Stored in carbonate rocks such as limestone, sea floor sediments, ocean water (dissolved CO2), the
atmosphere (as gas)
● Despite biological significance also used as economic resource
● Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas power global economy
● Oil used as raw material in manufacturing
● Agricultural crops and forests- store vast amount of CO2 available for human use and products
Water and carbon cycling through open and closed
systems:
● Global scale= closed systems between land,
atmo, ocean and bio driven by sun’s energy
● Only energy (not matter) transfer cross the
boundaries of cycles, hence why they are ‘closed’
● Cycling individual H2O or CO2 atoms vary
days-millenia
● Macro scale 3 stores- land, ocean, atmosphere
● Water closed system key:
- Figures in thousands cubic
kilometres/year flows
- Thousands cubic kilometres storage
● Global carbon cycle similar series of stores +
flows
● Long-term storage in rock
contains 99.9% all carbon
on Earth
● Carbon in circulation
moves rapidly between
pathways and stores
● Main including-
photosynthesis, respiration,
oxidation
(decomp+combust) and
weathering
● Smaller scales, matter +
energy cross system
boundaries= open systems
, 1b. The Carbon and Water Cycles are systems with inputs, outputs and stores
Distribution and size of stores, characteristics of inputs and outputs of H2O+CO2 cycle:
Key:
Red=Carbon cycle, Gt (1 bn tonnes) + avg length time CO2 remains in stores
Blue=Water cycle, thousands Km3 storage, Km3/year flows, % of global water
Water cycle storage, reservoirs, inputs and outputs:
● Ocean 97% all water on planet
● Freshwater small portion
● ¾ and/or 75% frozen in ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland
● Water stored below ground in permeable rocks= ⅕ all freshwater
● Avg time water particle in atmosphere= 9 days, large flux water in and out of atmosphere
● Global water cycle budget circulates 505,00km3 a year between water stores
● Input to atmosphere include evaporated from oceans, soils, lakes and rivers, vapour transpired
through leaves= evapotranspiration
● Moisture leaves atmosphere through precipitation and condensation, melting via ablation as well as
sublimation (solid-gas)
● Precipitation and meltwater drain from the kabd as run-off, most drain to ocean, though some drain to
inland basins
● Large part of water falling as precipitation on the land reaches rivers only after infiltrating and flowing
through the soil
