Earth's anthrobiogeochemical copper cycle

• Published in: Global biogeochemical cycles Vol. 21; no. 2; pp. GB2010 - n/a
• Main Authors: Rauch, J. N., Graedel, T. E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Geophysical Union 01-06-2007; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling; Biological and Chemical; Biological and medical sciences; copper; cycle; Earth sciences; Earth system modeling; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Geochemical cycles; Geochemistry; global; Global Change; Oceanography; Synecology; copper; cycle; global; Human; Moon; cycles; mining; biogeochemistry; stocks; crust; Earth; drill cores; mantle; Mining industry; Anthropogenic factor
• ISSN: 0886-6236; 1944-9224
• DOI: 10.1029/2006GB002850

An “anthrobiogeochemical” copper cycle, from Earth's core to the Moon, combining natural biogeochemical and human anthropogenic stocks and flows is derived for the mid‐1990s. Although some aspects of the quantification have moderate to high uncertainty, the anthropogenic mining, manufacturing, and use flows (on the order of 104 Gg Cu/yr) clearly dominate the cycle. In contrast, the natural repositories of Earth's core, mantle, and crust, and of the Moon, hold much higher stocks of copper (>1010 Gg) than do anthropogenic repositories (<106 Gg). The results indicate that the present anthropogenic rate of copper extraction exceeds the natural rate of renewal by ∼106.