Question

Describe one path carbon can take through the environment (through the systems and bodies of living things and back in our land, oceans, and atmosphere). Be sure to include at least five specific places that the carbon atom can be found as it makes its cycle.

Answer 1

Carbon is stored on our planet in the following major sinks :

(1) as organic molecules in living and dead organisms found in the biosphere.

(2) as the gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

(3) as organic matter in soils.

(4) in the lithosphere as fossil fuels and sedimentary rock deposits such as limestone dolomite and chalk.

(5) in the oceans as dissolved atmospheric carbon dioxide and as calcium carbonate shells in marine organisms.