What is the urey reaction?

The Carbon Silicate Cycle, also known as the Urey Reaction, is when the Carbon Cycle interacts with the Silicate Cycle over millions years

Here's how Carbon Silicate Cycle work:

Liquid water (rainfall) acts to "wash" CO2 out of the atmosphere in the form of carbonic acid: CO2 (gas) + H2O (liquid) --> H2CO3 (carbonic acid)

The carbonic acid weathers the rocks on the Earth's surface, releasing ions of calcium (Ca++) and bicarbonate (HCO-3) into the oceans.

These combine into calcium carbonate (CaCO3) on the sea floor either through the formation of carbonate rocks or through living organisms making carbonate shells.

The calcium carbonate is eventually subducted down into the Earth (via plate tectonics), where high temps and pressures convert it back to CO2 gas.

CO2 gas gets outgassed from volcanos back into the atmosphere.

In order to regulate the temperature to such high stability, the carbonate-silicate cycle must be self-regulating. That is, it must act to increase the greenhouse effect if the temperature drops, and it must decrease the greenhouse effect if temperature rises.

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