Deep Carbon Observatory Paper-3

1 TM Newspaper Analysis Programe WORKSHEeT -13 (UPSC PTcumMAINS-2020) (Deep carbon observatory)

Deep Ca rbon

Observatory

Paper-3 (PT-MAINS)

Environ. NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS PROGRAMME – WORK-SHEET Part - 13

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2 TM Newspaper Analysis Programe WORKSHEeT -13 (UPSC PTcumMAINS-2020) (Deep carbon observatory)

DEEP CARBON OBSERVATORY • Carbon dioxide out-gassed to the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO), a 10-year atmosphere and oceans from volcanoes programme at the US National Academy of and other magmatically active regions is Sciences founded in 2009, has released a series of estimated at 280 to 360 million tonnes per papers estimating the total carbon on Earth. This year, including that released into the also includes an analysis of the total carbon oceans from mid-ocean ridges. dioxide released by volcanoes. • Two-tenths of 1% of Earth’s total carbon About: (43,500 gigatonnes) is above surface in the • Humanity’s annual carbon emissions oceans, on land, and in the atmosphere. through the burning of fossil fuels and The rest is subsurface, 1.85 billion Gt in forests, etc, are 40 to 100 times greater all. than all volcanic emissions.

Key findings: 2. The rest of the carbon – about 1.85 billion 1. Less than one percent of the planet’s gigatonnes – is trapped in the planet’s carbon is found above surface. crust and mantle.

3 TM Newspaper Analysis Programe WORKSHEeT -13 (UPSC PTcumMAINS-2020) (Deep carbon observatory) 3. The carbon that is found in the oceans, the about 10 times less of the global warming land and the atmosphere, for the most part, gas. appears to be disturbed by human activity. 6. Carbon dioxide emissions into the 4. Human emissions of the greenhouse gas atmosphere and oceans from volcanoes are 100 times greater than all of Earth’s account for about 280 to 360 million volcanoes. tonnes. 5. Human activity contributes about 10 7. The burning of fossil fuels, deforestation gigatonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere and other human actives contribute each year. Natural geological process between 40 and 100 times the amount of underground, for comparison, release CO2 into the atmosphere.

chemical, and biological behavior of carbon in the Why study carbon in Earth? vast majority of Earth’s interior. Carbon plays a fundamental role on Earth. It forms the chemical backbone for all essential About: DCO is a community of scientists, organic molecules produced by living organisms. including biologists, physicists, geoscientists and Carbon-based fuels supply most of society’s chemists, whose work crosses several traditional energy. Atmospheric carbon dioxide affects disciplinary lines to develop the new, integrative Earth’s climate. Yet despite its importance, field of deep carbon science. To complement this remarkably little is known about the physical, research, the DCO's infrastructure includes public engagement and education, online and offline

4 TM Newspaper Analysis Programe WORKSHEeT -13 (UPSC PTcumMAINS-2020) (Deep carbon observatory) community support, innovative data management, processes and rates of these fluxes, as well as their and novel instrumentation development. variation throughout Earth's history, remain poorly understood. In addition DCO research on His: In 2007, Robert Hazen, a Senior Staff primitive chondritic meteorites indicates that Scientist at the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Earth is relatively depleted in highly volatile Laboratory (Washington, DC, USA) spoke at elements compared to chondrites, though DCO's the Century Club in New York, on the origins of research is further examining whether large life on Earth and how geophysical reactions may reservoirs of carbon may be hidden in the mantle have played a critical role in the development of and core. Members of the Reservoirs and Fluxes life on Earth. Jesse Ausubel, a faculty member Community are conducting research as a part of at Rockefeller University and Program Director at the Deep Earth Carbon Degassing Project to make the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, was in attendance tangible advances towards quantifying the amount and later sought out Hazen's book, Genesis: The of carbon outgassed from the Earth's deep interior Scientific Quest for Life’s Origins. (core, mantle, crust) into the surface environment (e.g. biosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, What is DEEP CARBON CYCLE? atmosphere) through naturally occurring The Deep Carbon Observatory's research processes. considers the global carbon cycle beyond Earth's surface. It explores high-pressure and extreme Deep life temperature organic synthesis, complex The Deep Life Community documents the interactions between organic molecules and extreme limits and global extent of subsurface life minerals, conducts field observations of deep in our planet, exploring the evolutionary and microbial ecosystems and of anomalies in functional diversity of Earth's deep biosphere and petroleum geochemistry, and constructs its interaction with the carbon cycle. The Deep theoretical models of lower crust and upper Life Community maps the abundance and mantle carbon sources and sinks. diversity of subsurface marine and continental microorganisms in time and space as a function of Research programme their genomic and biogeochemical properties, and The Deep Carbon Observatory is structured their interactions with deep carbon. around four science communities focused on the By integrating in situ and in vitro assessments of topics of reservoirs and fluxes, deep life, deep biomolecules and cells, the Deep Life Community energy, and extreme physics and chemistry. explores the environmental limits to the survival, metabolism and reproduction of deep life. The Reservoirs and fluxes resulting data informs experiments and models The Reservoirs and Fluxes Community explores that study the impact of deep life on the carbon the storage and transport of carbon in Earth's deep cycle, and the deep biosphere's relation to the

interior. The subduction of tectonic plates and surface world. Members of the Deep Life volcanic outgassing are primary vehicles Community are conducting research as a part of for carbon fluxes to and from deep Earth, but the the Census of Deep Life, which seeks to identify

5 TM Newspaper Analysis Programe WORKSHEeT -13 (UPSC PTcumMAINS-2020) (Deep carbon observatory) the diversity and distribution of microbial life in Extreme physics and chemistry continental and marine deep subsurface As a result of a series of workshops, the DCO environments and to explore mechanisms that initiated an additional Science Community to govern microbial evolution and dispersal in the examine the physics and chemistry of carbon deep biosphere. under extreme conditions. The overarching goal of In December 2018, researchers announced that the Extreme Physics and Chemistry Community is considerable amounts of life forms, including 70% to improve the understanding of the physical and of bacteria and archea on Earth, comprising up to chemical behavior of carbon at extreme 23 billion tonnes of carbon, live up to at least conditions, as found in the deep interiors of Earth 4.8 km (3.0 mi) deep underground, including and other planets. Extreme Physics and chemistry 2.5 km (1.6 mi) below the seabed, according to a research explores thermodynamics of carbon- ten-year Deep Carbon Observatory project. bearing systems, chemical kinetics of chemical deep carbon processes, high- Deep energy pressure biology and biophysics, physical The Deep Energy Community is dedicated to properties of aqueous fluids, theoretical quantifying the environmental conditions and modeling for carbon and its compounds at high processes from the molecular to the global scale pressures and temperatures, and solid-fluid that control the origins, forms, quantities and interactions under extreme conditions. The movements of reduced carbon compounds derived Extreme Physics and Chemistry Community also from deep carbon through deep geologic time. The seeks to identify possible new carbon-bearing Deep Energy Community uses field-based materials in Earth and planetary interiors, to investigations of approximately 25 globally characterize the properties of these materials and representative terrestrial and marine environments to identify reactions at conditions relevant to Earth to determine processes controlling the origin, and planetary interiors. form, quantities and movements of abiotic gases and organic species in Earth's crust and uppermost Integrating discover mantle. Deep Energy also uses DCO-sponsored As the DCO nears its completion in 2020, it is instrumentation, especially revolutionary integrating the discoveries made by its research isotopologue measurements, to discriminate communities into an overarching model of carbon between the abiotic and biotic methane gas and in Earth, as well as other models and products organic species sampled from global terrestrial aimed at both the scientific community and wider and marine field sites. Another research activity of public. Deep Energy is to quantify the mechanisms and rates of fluid-rock interactions that produce abiotic Research highlights hydrogen and organic compounds as a function of Research highlights to date include: temperature, pressure, fluid and solid • ultra-deep diamonds, from > 670 km depth compositions. in the mantle, contain the geochemical signature of organic material from Earth's

6 TM Newspaper Analysis Programe WORKSHEeT -13 (UPSC PTcumMAINS-2020) (Deep carbon observatory) surface, highlighting the role of subduction Earth synthesizes what is known about deep in cycling carbon carbon, and also outlines unanswered questions • there may be significant amounts of iron that will guide future DCO research. The Deep carbide in Earth's core, accounting for Carbon Observatory encourages open access perhaps two thirds of Earth's carbon publication, and is striving to become a leader in budget Earth sciences in this regard. DCO funding can be • next-generation mass spectrometry has used to defray the costs of open access allowed precise determination of methane publication. isotopologues to identify abiogenic sources of methane from the crust and The Hindu mantle Role of volcanoes • the geosphere and biosphere show a • Scientists at the Deep Carbon Observatory complex linked evolution; with the (DCO) have found that even a handful of diversity and ecology of carbon-bearing volcanic events have caused catastrophic minerals on Earth closely mirroring major releases of carbon, leading to a warmer events in Earth history, such as the Great atmosphere, acidified oceans, and mass Oxidation Event extinctions. • Researchers from DCO’s DECADE (Deep • the known limits to microbial life have Earth Carbon Degassing) subgroup found been extended in terms of pressure and that volcanoes and volcanic regions temperature; complex microbes are now outgassed an estimated 280-360 million known to thrive at depths of up to 2.5 km tonnes of CO2 per year. in the oceanic crust • This includes the contribution from active • the volcanic flux of CO2 into the volcanic vents, from the diffusing and atmosphere is twice that previously widespread release of CO2 through soils, thought (although this flux remains two faults, and fractures in volcanic regions, orders of magnitude lower than volcanic lakes, and from the mid-ocean anthropogenic fluxes of CO2) ridge system. • the discovery of pockets of ancient saline 1. Particles of dust and ash fluids in continental crust, isolated for • Volcanic ash or dust released into the 4 atmosphere during an eruption shade > 2.6 Ga, rich in H2, CH4 and He, sunlight and cause temporary cooling. providing evidence for the existence of • Larger particles of ash have little effect early crustal environments perhaps capable because they fall out of the air quickly. of harboring life Small ash particles form a dark cloud in the troposphere that shades and cools the Carbon in Earth area directly below. Carbon in Earth is Volume 75 of Reviews in • Most of these particles fall out of the Mineralogy and Geochemistry (RiMG). It was atmosphere within rain a few hours or days released as an open access publication on after an eruption. March 11, 2013. Each chapter of Carbon in • But the smallest particles of dust get into

7 TM Newspaper Analysis Programe WORKSHEeT -13 (UPSC PTcumMAINS-2020) (Deep carbon observatory) the stratosphere and are able to travel vast Degassing distances, often worldwide. • About 400 of the 1500 volcanoes active • These tiny particles are so light that they since the last Ice Age 11,700 years ago are can stay in the stratosphere for months, venting CO2 today, said DECADE. blocking sunlight and causing cooling over • Another 670 could be producing diffuse large areas of the Earth. emissions, with 102 already documented. 2. Sulfur • Of these, 22 ancient volcanoes that have • Often, erupting volcanoes emit sulfur not erupted since the Pleistocene Epoch dioxide into the atmosphere. Sulfur (2.5 million years ago to the Ice Age) are dioxide is much more effective than ash outgassing. particles at cooling the climate. • DECADE also confirmed that more than • The sulfur dioxide moves into the 200 volcanic systems emitted measurable stratosphere and combines with water to volumes of CO2 between 2005 and 2017. form sulfuric acid aerosols. Of these, several regions of degassing have • The sulfuric acid makes a haze of tiny been documented. droplets in the stratosphere that reflects • These include Yellowstone in the United incoming solar radiation, causing cooling States, the East African Rift, and the of the Earth’s surface. Technong volcanic province in China. • The aerosols can stay in the stratosphere A fine balance for up to three years, moved around by • The quantity of carbon released from winds and causing significant cooling Earth’s mantle has been in relative balance worldwide. Eventually, the droplets grow with the quantity returned through the large enough to fall to Earth. downward subduction of tectonic plates 3. Greenhouse gases and other processes. • Volcanoes also release large amounts of • Any imbalance to the carbon cycle could greenhouse gases such as water vapor and cause rapid global warming, changes to the carbon dioxide. silicate weathering rate, changes to the • The amounts put into the atmosphere from hydrologic cycle, and overall rapid habitat a large eruption doesn’t change the global changes that could cause mass extinction amounts of these gases very much. as the earth rebalanced itself. • However, there have been times during Total carbon Earth history when intense volcanism has • The scientists also calculated that just two- significantly increased the amount of tenths of one per cent of Earth’s total carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and carbon — about 43,500 Gt — is above caused global warming. surface in the oceans, on land, and in the Contrasting to humans atmosphere. • For the past 100 years, humanity’s annual • The rest is subsurface, including the crust, carbon emissions through the burning of mantle and core — an estimated 1.85 fossil fuels and forests were 40 to 100 billion Gt in all. times greater than those from geologic • While around 37,000 gt carbon (85.1 per sources such as all volcanic emissions, a/c cent) is in the deep ocean, 3,000 gt (6.9 per to DECADE. cent) lies in marine sediments.

8 TM Newspaper Analysis Programe WORKSHEeT -13 (UPSC PTcumMAINS-2020) (Deep carbon observatory) Source: The Hindu-Wekipedia Class explanation- mind map

9 TM Newspaper Analysis Programe WORKSHEeT -13 (UPSC PTcumMAINS-2020) (Deep carbon observatory)

10 TM Newspaper Analysis Programe WORKSHEeT -13 (UPSC PTcumMAINS-2020) (Deep carbon observatory)

11 TM Newspaper Analysis Programe WORKSHEeT -13 (UPSC PTcumMAINS-2020) (Deep carbon observatory) Q. Discuss carbon cycle and its role in climate change. Also analysis the world policy of (10 Marks)

12 TM Newspaper Analysis Programe WORKSHEeT -13 (UPSC PTcumMAINS-2020) (Deep carbon observatory)

13 TM Newspaper Analysis Programe WORKSHEeT -13 (UPSC PTcumMAINS-2020) (Deep carbon observatory)

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