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The carbon cycle is the exchange of carbon among Earth’s atmosphere, ocean, land biosphere/soils, sediments, and geosphere, linking the major biogeochemical components of the Earth system.
The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical system that exchanges carbon among Earth’s biosphere, pedosphere (soils), geosphere (rocks and interior), hydrosphere (waters), and atmosphere. It is essential for sustaining life because it recycles carbon through living organisms and also includes long-term processes that store carbon in sinks and later release it. Carbon exists in many forms and reservoirs (carbon pools), such as the atmosphere (mainly CO2 and methane), the ocean (dissolved inorganic carbon and marine biota), terrestrial ecosystems and soils, sediments and fossil fuels, and Earth’s interior. Within the Earth system, the carbon cycle is often described as two interacting timescales: the fast (biological) carbon cycle and the slow (deep/geological) carbon cycle. The fast cycle operates through photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition, and exchange between atmosphere, land ecosystems, and the ocean, typically completing within years to decades. The slow cycle moves carbon through rocks and Earth’s crust and mantle, involving weathering, sedimentation, subduction, and volcanic degassing, and can take millions of years. Natural carbon flows are often roughly balanced, but human activities—especially fossil fuel extraction and burning and land-use change—redistribute large amounts of geologic carbon into the atmosphere, increasing atmospheric CO2 and altering ocean chemistry (including ocean acidification), thereby affecting climate and ecosystem functioning.
The carbon cycle is the exchange of carbon among Earth’s atmosphere, ocean, land biosphere/soils, sediments, and geosphere, linking the major biogeochemical components of the Earth system.
It is commonly divided into a fast (biological) cycle that operates on years to decades and a slow (geological) cycle that operates on millions of years through rock processes.
Human activities disrupt the natural balance by transferring carbon from long-term geologic stores to the atmosphere, driving climate change and changing ocean chemistry and carbon uptake.
The set of processes that exchange and recycle carbon among Earth’s biosphere, soils, rocks, waters, and atmosphere, including both short-term cycling and long-term storage and release.
Carbon cycling through the biosphere and exchanges among atmosphere, terrestrial ecosystems, soils, and surface/deep ocean layers on timescales of years to decades.
Long-term carbon movement through Earth’s crust and mantle via weathering, sedimentation, subduction, and volcanic/tectonic release, taking millions of years.
A storage location for carbon—such as the atmosphere, ocean, soils, sediments, or Earth’s interior—connected to other pools by exchange pathways.
A reservoir or process that removes carbon from the atmosphere (or from another compartment) and stores it for a period of time.
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