Carbon Cycle

The carbon cycle is the process in which carbon travels from the
atmosphere into organisms and the Earth and then back into the
atmosphere. As carbon is the backbone of biological chemistry,
the carbon cycle is a very important chemical cycle. The
atmosphere is the minor reservoir of carbon dioxide while the
oceans are the major reservoir, containing as much as 50 times
more as that of air where it is stored as bicarbonate mineral
deposit on the ocean floor. The latter regulates the carbon dioxide
level in the atmosphere. The cycle operates in the form of carbon
dioxide exchanging among the atmosphere, biosphere and the
ocean

Carbon dioxide balance sheet per year :

(i) emissions by fossil fuel 20 billion tons,
(ii) emissions by deforestation and changes in land use 5.5 billion
ton.
(iii) uptake in the oceans 5.5. billion tons,
(iv) uptake by carbon dioxide fertilization, i.e. photo-synthesis 7.3
billion tons.
Thus there is a net increase of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere of 11 billion tons per year.
Concentration of carbon dioxide: The atmosphere contains 2700
billion tons of carbon dioxide; biosphere, vegetation and soil
about 6600 billion tons and the oceans about 1,36,000 billion tons
of carbon dioxide.

STEPS OF CARBON CYCLE:

 Photosynthesis:
During photosynthesis plants, algae and