Masses of Carbon in the Earths Hydrosphere

E. A. Romankevich and A. A. Vetrov

Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovskii pr. 36, Moscow, 117997 Russia

e-mail: vetrov@ocean.ru

Received August 27, 2012; accepted September 17, 2012

Abstract—Recent data were summarized on the concentration and mass of inorganic and organic carbon in
reservoirs of the Earth’s hydrosphere. We compared carbon masses and accumulation conditions in the surface
hydrosphere and waters of the sedimentary shell and proportions between carbonate, dissolved, and suspended
particulate organic carbon. It was shown that the total masses of carbon in the surface hydrosphere and in the
waters of the sedimentary shell are approximately equal to 80 10¹⁸ g C at an organic to carbonate carbon ratio
of 1 : 36 and 1 : 43, respectively. Three main forms of organic compounds in the ocean (living organisms, sus-
pended particles, and dissolved species) occur in the proportion 1 : 13 : 250 and form the pyramid of masses 4
10¹⁵ g, 50 10¹⁵ g, and 100010¹⁵ g C_org. The descending sequence of the organic to carbonate carbon ratio
in water, ocean (1 : 36) > glaciers (1 : 8) > lakes (1 : 2) > rivers (1 : 0.6) > wetlands (1 : 0.3), is in general con-
sistent with an increase in the same direction in the mean concentrations of organic matter: 0.77 mg C_org/L in
the ocean, 0.7 mg C_org/L in glaciers, 6–30 mg C_org/L in lakes, 15 mg C_org/L in rivers, and 75 mg C_org/L in wet-
lands. Both the mean concentrations and masses of dissolved organic matter in the pore waters of oceanic sed-
iments and in the waters of the sedimentary shell are similar: 36–37 mg/L and 5 10¹⁸ and 5.6 10¹⁸ g, respec-
tively. The mass of carbonate carbon in the pore waters of the ocean, (19–33) 10¹⁸g, is comparable with its
mass in the water column, 38.1 10¹⁸ g.

Keywords: hydrosphere, organic and inorganic carbon, carbon mass, carbon flux, ocean, rivers, lakes, impound-
ments, wetlands, soil, sedimentation water, underground, glaciers

DOI: 10.1134/S0016702913060062

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