Continental water cycle and carbon reservoirs and their relationships in the past

Abstract

In this short review paper, the author discusses the importance of studies on changes in the continental water cycle for a better understanding of temporal changes in biomass production and carbon storage. All calculations made for the late Pleistocene and Holocene should take into consideration not only the subsequent rises in temperature, precipitation and carbon storage, but also secondary hydrologic variations, which differ spatially due to climatic zonation as well as to orography, lithology and other factors. To a large extent, the present-day picture of the water cycle and biomass production is transformed by man.