10 Really Bizarre And Peculiar Things Found in the Jungle

Congo’s Carbon Sink

All trees soak up Carbon Dioxide during photosynthesis. This is especially true of the large and fast-growing trees of the tropical rainforests, where vegetation is much denser. Such dense forests are often called ‘Carbon Sinks’ where fallen trees from thousands of years of jungle growth are locked under the ground and their carbon along with them. In the Congo’s Cuvette Central in the Congolese Basin lies a prime example of such a sink, hidden under the dense overgrowth. Only recently discovered, the area surrounded by rivers to the North, East, and West is a dense forest with two-meter thick semi-decomposed peat soil. This carbon sink is one of the largest in the world, locked in by its 2000mm yearly rainfall. Protecting forests like these is essential in stopping the release of immense quantities of carbon stores, long since buried.