Those four steps of the carbon cycle work in tandem to move carbon throughout the environment. Combustion: Whether in volcanic eruptions or fossil fuel-based energy systems (basically turning dead organisms into fuel), the burning of fossil fuels and other carbon-based sediments releases energy, and carbon is returned to the atmosphere.Respiration: Carbon is released into the atmosphere as living organisms breathe out, after extracting oxygen from the air, or after consuming plants.Decomposition: As deceased plants and animals decay, their carbon is released into the ground, which eventually solidifies into sediment stored beneath the surface.Photosynthesis: Plants absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere to produce the sugars they need to live, and this moves carbon from the air into plant matter.There are four natural steps that carbon can cycle through as it visits different reservoirs: From these sources, plants and animal life can draw on carbon to perform biological processes. While the largest deposits of carbon are stored inside rocks and sediment that exist below Earth's surface, the oceans and the atmosphere also hold carbon.

What does change is how much carbon resides in each of those reservoirs at any one time. The carbon cycle occurs because Earth is a closed system, meaning that the total amount of carbon never changes. (These reservoirs include the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.) Carbon atoms naturally cycle through reservoirs, since all life on Earth uses carbon compounds for basic biological processes.

The carbon cycle is a natural process that moves carbon compounds throughout different deposits, or reservoirs, in the environment. With this article, we’ll define the carbon cycle, explain how it works and how the Earth uses it to regulate the levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, and how human activities are unbalancing this global process. However, as vital as carbon is to the continuation of our civilization, it also plays a huge role in one of the biggest threats facing our planet: global warming and climate change. Carbon moves throughout the planet in a process called the global carbon cycle, which is an essential part of our planet's overall health. We’re primarily made of carbon, we eat carbon, and our economies, homes, and transportation are all built on carbon. Carbon is an important part of human life.

Carbon cycle