In oceanic biogeochemistry, the biological pump is the sum of a suite of biologically-mediated processes that transport carbon from the surface euphotic zone to the ocean's interior. Ocean (from Okeanos, a Greek god of sea and water; Greek ωκεανός) covers almost three quarters (71%) of the surface of the Earth. ... The field of biogeochemistry involves scientific study of the chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and reactions that govern the composition of the natural environment (including the biosphere, the hydrosphere, the pedosphere, the atmosphere, and the lithosphere), and the cycles of matter and energy that transport the Earths chemical... General Name, Symbol, Number carbon, C, 6 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 14, 2, p Appearance black (graphite) colorless (diamond) Atomic mass 12. ...

The carbon is transported primarily by sinking particulate material, for example dead organisms (including algal mats) or faecal pellets. However, some carbon reaches the deep ocean as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) by physical transport processes such as downwelling rather than sinking. The algae (singular alga) comprise several different groups of living things that produce energy through photosynthesis. ... Downwelling is the process of accumulation and sinking of higher density material beneath lower density material, such as cold or saline water beneath warmer or fresher water or cold air beneath warm air. ...

Carbon reaching the deep ocean by these means is either organic carbon or particulate inorganic carbon such as calcium carbonate. The former is a component of all organisms, the latter only of calcifying organisms, for example coccolithophorids or foraminiferans. In reference to the different use of these materials in organisms, the organic carbon portion of this transport is known as the soft tissues pump, while the inorganic carbon portion is known as the hard tissues pump. Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound, with chemical formula CaCO3. ... Orders Allogromiida Carterinida Fusulinida - extinct Globigerinida Involutinida Lagenida Miliolida Robertinida Rotaliida Silicolocunida Spirillinida Textulariida incertae sedis    Xenophyophorea    Reticulomyxa The Foraminifera, or forams for short, are a large group of amoeboid protists with reticulating pseudopods, fine strands that branch and merge to form a dynamic net. ...

In the case of organic material, remineralisation processes such as bacterial respiration, return the organic carbon to dissolved carbon dioxide. Calcium carbonate dissolves at a rate dependent upon local carbonate chemistry. As these processes are generally slower than synthesis processes, and because the particulate material is sinking, the biological pump transports material from the surface of the ocean to its depths. For an overview, see Raven & Falkowski (1999). Phyla/Divisions Actinobacteria Aquificae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chlamydiae/Verrucomicrobia Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Nitrospirae Omnibacteria Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Bacteria is also the fictional name of a warring nation under Benzino Napaloni as dictator, in the 1940 film The Great Dictator... Respiration can refer to: Cellular respiration, which is the use of oxygen in the metabolism of organic molecules. ... Carbon dioxide is an atmospheric gas composed of one carbon and two oxygen atoms. ... Carbonate is an anion with a charge of -2 and an empirical formula of CO32-. An aqueous solution of carbon dioxide contains a minute amount of H2CO3, called carbonic acid, which dissociates to form hydrogen ions and carbonate ions. ...

The biological pump has a physico-chemical counterpart known as the solubility pump. See also the continental shelf pump. In oceanic biogeochemistry, the solubility pump is a physico-chemical process that transports carbon (as dissolved inorganic carbon) from the oceans surface to its interior. ... In oceanic biogeochemistry, the continental shelf pump is proposed to operate in the shallow waters of the continental shelves, acting as a mechanism to transport carbon (as either dissolved or particulate material) from surface waters to the interior of the adjacent deep ocean. ...

References

• Raven, J. A. and P. G. Falkowski (1999). Oceanic sinks for atmospheric CO₂. Plant Cell Environ. 22, 741-755.