Carbon cycle and water

• Combustion is the process by which carbon-containing substances, such as fossil fuels, are burned, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
• The carbon cycle is the movement of carbon between living organisms, the atmosphere, and non-living reservoirs.
• The most important process that takes place in the oceans is the marine carbon cycle
• The creatures of the oceans and the physical features of their environment play an important role in sequestering carbon and taking it out of the atmosphere through the biological processes of photosynthesis, predation and decomposition, and the physical movements of currents
• The oceans take in more carbon than they release, thus they can be called a carbon sink
• Phytoplankton


  • Microscopic plant-like organisms that sequester carbon through photosynthesis
  • Responsible for producing 80% of the world's oxygen
• Biological carbon pump


  • Transfers organic carbon from the surface to the deep ocean
• Carbonate pump


  • Transforms organic material into hard limestone rock and carbonate structures, locking away carbon for millions of years
• Increased carbon emissions are causing the oceans to become more acidic, leading to the bleaching of corals and a major loss of biodiversity
• Ocean acidification: the process of more CO2 being absorbed into the ocean, which means that the ph is decreasing(becomes more acidic )
• carbon sinks: any reservoir that absorbs more carbon the it release

  carbon source: releases more carbon the absorbs
• The ocean acts as a carbon sink because it absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through processes like gas exchange at the sea surface and biological uptake by marine organisms.