These accumulate on the seafloor and are eventually broken down by the waves and compacted under enormous pressure, forming limestone. When organisms with carbonate shells die, their body decomposes, leaving their hard shells.

Hence, it’s called a “carbon sink.” Marine animals convert carbon to carbonate and this forms the raw building materials required to make hard shells, almost like the ones found in clams and oysters. Ecologically, oceans absorb more carbon than it gives out. This is essentially a carbon cycle but within the sea. The process of photosynthesis involves the absorption of CO 2 by plants to produce carbohydrates. Carbon enters the atmosphere through natural processes like respiration and industrial applications like burning fossil fuels. Around 500 gigatons of carbon are stored in this biosphere above ground in the form of plants and other living organisms.Ĭarbon in the atmosphere is present in the form of carbon dioxide. The carbon cycle on the land is called the terrestrial biosphere, all it includes all the living creatures living on the surface of the planet earth. Some of the carbon dioxide and other compounds of carbon, also falls down with the pouring of the rain.Ĭarbon cycle of the earths atmosphere is also the worst affected part of the global carbon cycle due to human activities, mainly in the form of carbon dioxide. The major quantity of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is absorbed by the terrestrial and oceanic biospheres with the help of photosynthesis performed by various creatures in them like Plants in the terrestrial biosphere and cyanobacteria and algaes in the oceanic biospheres. Both these two gases, carbon dioxide(CO 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ), are gradually removed from the atmosphere by the natural process of carbon cycle. Both of these gases are major contributors of global warming as these are both greenhouse gases and hence absorb and retain heat, hence causing the atmospheric heating of the planet earth. In the atmosphere of the earth, the major quantity of carbon is present in the form of carbon dioxide(CO 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ). The mantle and core of the earth have a grave quantity of carbon present in there, carbon from the lower mantle often leaks into the atmosphere by the volcanic activities.Ĭarbon Cycle in the Atmosphere of the Earth Sediments of limestone had stored a vast amount of carbon in them.Ī vast amount of the carbon is also trapped in the inner parts of the planet earth. Geosphere: The excessive carbon is trapped deep within the earth’s crust in the form of various sediments of minerals and fossil fuels. Oceanic Carbon Cycle: the creatures living in the oceans reserves a certain amount of carbon, and also the inorganic carbon dissolved in the waters and the carbon present at the surface of the oceans. The Terrestrial Biosphere: Carbon incorporated in the surface of the earth, by the living beings like plants and animals living on the earth’s surface are all included in this section. The Atmosphere: The carbon present in the atmosphere of earth in the form of CO 2. The major division of the global carbon cycle are. The global carbon cycle is divided into various parts which act as the reservoirs of carbon, which are interconnected by some pathways of exchange. The carbon cycle diagram below explains well the flow of carbon along different paths. These fossil fuels are then used for man-made activities, which pumps more carbon back to the atmosphere. Some of the carbon that’s not released back to the atmosphere eventually becomes fossil fuels. When the plants and animals die and they are decomposed, carbon is released back into the atmosphere. These plants are then consumed by animals, and carbon gets bio accumulated into their bodies. Diamond and graphite are the elemental forms of carbon and in a combined state, it is found as carbonates in minerals and as carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere.Ĭarbon cycle can be defined as the process where carbon compounds are interchanged among the biosphere, geosphere, pedosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the earth.įollowing are the main steps that are involved in the process of the carbon cycle:Ĭarbon present in the atmosphere is absorbed by plants for photosynthesis. Carbon cycle represents the movement of carbon in elemental and combined states on earth.

Importance of carbon cycle