[Rockhounds] Carbon Reservoir

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

Hi Bill,

Sedimentary carbonates and kerogen are the the largest carbon 
reservoirs, followed by marine dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), soils, 
surface sediments, and the atmosphere.  The living biomass reservoir is 
somewhat smaller than the atmospheric carbon  reservoir and actively 
exchanges with the atmospheric reservoir through photosynthesis and 
respiration.

	http://www.ess.uci.edu/~reeburgh/fig1.html

Oceans are natural CO2 sinks, and represent the largest active carbon 
sink on Earth.

	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sink

I think the confusion comes from mixing sinks and reservoirs.

Kreigh


On Monday, Oct 13, 2008, at 06:35 America/Detroit, William Dicks wrote:

> Could someone tell me what is the largest carbon reservoir?
> Some sources I have read say the oceans and others say limestone
> deposits.
>
> Thanks
>
> Bill Dicks
> Teacher,
> Northville High School
> Board Member,
> Michigan Earth Science Teachers Association
>
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