![[option 1] image for](../media/res/sediment.svg)
Finish the trip—from dust to dust and soil to stone. Slosh toward the sea, then slip into SEDIMENT.
Go through the process of RUNOFF.
When soil gets saturated with water—from rain, snow melt or river floods—bits of soil float off into streams and rivers that feed into the oceans, where they may settle to the bottom. Through this part of the water cycle, nutritious carbon in the organic matter in soil is thus transported throughout the environment.
Q = (P-I)2/(P-I+S)
Runoff = (Rainfall - Water Stored)2/(Rainfall - Water Stored + Water Absorbed)
Water flows from higher elevations to the ocean in the process of runoff.
Learn much more with Wikipedia: Surface_runoff, Water_cycle
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That place stinks. Tired of getting stepped on? Why not ditch the low-life ground? Escape that dark, dank den. Come, see the world afresh. Rise back up to the clean blue skies. Drift into the ATMOSPHERE!
Go through the process of RESPIRATION.
Microorganisms don't have lungs, but they still release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as they decompose fallen plants and animals. This is called respiration, though it is not "breathing." Soil holds lots of carbon in the form of matter left behind by dead plants and animals. This organic matter is eaten by bacteria, fungi, worms, bugs and other tiny creatures. The carbon returns to the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide as these microorganisms use the stored energy to live and grow.
The amount of carbon dioxide soil respires into the atmosphere is equal to half of the carbon dioxide plants take up each year.
Some of the carbon is also released through respiration by the insects and microorganism that help decompose the plant.
C6H12O6 => 2C2H5OH + 2C02
Sugar = Ethanol + Carbon Dioxide
Complex organic molecules are broken down to simpler forms in the process of respiration.
Learn much more with Wikipedia: Cellular_respiration, Soil_respiration
You are Carbon in Soil
I am as I was - but in smaller and smaller pieces. Seems everybody—bugs, birds, badgers, bees, even moutains—ends up breaking it down with us. The high and the low come together at our level, and loaf about in the sun. all turn eventually into soil. I pass the time being dirty ... and just loafing in the hot, hot sun.
Soil is the largest terrestrial pool of carbon. It contains more carbon than all land vegetation biomass and the atmosphere combined.
Soil is full of life. Some can be seen: worms, ants, the roots of plants. Many millions of microscopic organisms live there, too, like bacteria and fungi,. These microorganisms that decompose organic matter. Decomposers in soil act to recycle the nutrients from decaying organisms. As they break down plant and animal bodies bit by bit they leave behind some nutrients in simpler forms that are then available to be spread into the food web. They get energy by breaking down the carbon bonds, and recycle the simplified nutrients back into the food web through the soil. Soil Organic Matter provides nutrients that plants need to grow. It derives from the breakdown of the organic matter in plants and animals. Soil is the home for microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi—decomposers of organic matter— as well as for worms, ants and other insects. Decomposers break down dead plants into organic compounds and nutrients... making the nutrients available .. Soil organic carbon ...and the minerals from weathered rock and the nitrogen pulled from the atmosphere by nitrogen-fixing organisms supply the nutrients to root systems of plants. The three types of soil are characterized as clay, silt and sand.
We have bacteria in our bodies that helps us break down the carbon bonds in our food. The parts of our food that don't get fully digested and incorporated into our bodies comes out in the end.
45% minerals, 25% water, 25% air, 5% organic matter
Learn much more with Wikipedia: Soil, Soil_carbon
