Ride the water. Slide away! Slosh toward the sea, then slip into SEDIMENT.

Go through the process of RUNOFF.

When soil becomes 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 the particles may settle to the bottom as sediment. Through this part of the water cycle, nutritious carbon from the organic matter in soil is spread far and wide.

BEGIN AS: Soil Organic Matter. BECOME: Sedimentary Organic Matter.

Q = (P-I)²/(P-I+S)

Runoff = (Rainfall - Water Stored)²/(Rainfall - Water Stored + Water Absorbed)

Water flows from higher elevations toward the ocean in the process of runoff.

Learn much more with Wikipedia: Surface_runoff, Water_cycle

That place stinks. Escape that dark, dank den. Rise up to the fresh blue skies. Drift into the ATMOSPHERE!

Go through the process of RESPIRATION.

Microorganisms in soil release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. They respire, even though they don't have lungs. It is called respiration, even though it is not "breathing." Soil holds lots of carbon in the form of matter left behind by dead plants and animals. When this organic matter is eaten—by bacteria, fungi, worms, bugs and other tiny creatures—carbon dioxide is released. In the process of decomposition, as complex carbon compounds are broken down, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.

Organisms in the soil add about half as much carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as terrestrial plants remove each year.

BEGIN AS: Soil Organic Matter. BECOME: Carbon Dioxide.

C₆H₁₂O₆ => 2 C₂H₅OH + 2 C0₂

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

start over

You are Carbon in Soil

Seems everybody ends up mingling down here with us—bugs, birds, badgers, bees, even mountains. The high and the low come together at our level.

Soil contains more carbon than all the terrestrial biomass and the atmosphere combined.

Soil is full of life. Some can be seen—worms, ants, the roots of plants—but many millions of microscopic organisms live there too, like bacteria and fungi, 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 making them available to be spread into the food web. Soil Organic Matter provides nutrients that plants need to grow.

We have bacteria in our bodies that help 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 quickly return to the environment.

45% minerals, 25% water, 25% air, 5% organic matter

Learn much more with Wikipedia: Soil, Soil_carbon

caliche, carbonate, the humus, a protozoa, an amoeba, a flagellate, a ciliate, fungi, mycorrhizal fungal mycelium, a bacterium, glucose, a nematode, a roundworm, a threadworm. lignin, cellulose, peat, starch, calcium carbonate, tannin, cutin