The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among thebiosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. It is one of the most important cycles of the earth and allows for carbon to be recycled and reused throughout the biosphere and all of its organisms.[citation needed]
The carbon cycle was initially discovered by Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier, and popularized by Humphry Davy.[1] It is now usually thought of as including the following major reservoirs of carbon interconnected by pathways of exchange:
- The atmosphere
- The terrestrial biosphere, which is usually defined to include fresh water systems and non-living organic material, such as soil carbon.
- The oceans, including dissolved inorganic carbon and living and non-living marine biota,
- The sediments including fossil fuels.
- The Earth's interior, carbon from the Earth's mantle and crust is released to the atmosphere and hydrosphere by volcanoes and geothermal systems.
The annual movements of carbon, the carbon exchanges between reservoirs, occur because of various chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes. The ocean contains the largest active pool of carbon near the surface of the Earth, but the deep ocean part of this pool does not rapidly exchange with the atmosphere in the absence of an external influence, such as a black smoker or an uncontrolled deep-water oil well leak.
The global carbon budget is the balance of the exchanges (incomes and losses) of carbon between the carbon reservoirs or between one specific loop (e.g., atmosphere ↔ biosphere) of the carbon cycle. An examination of the carbon budget of a pool or reservoir can provide information about whether the pool or reservoir is functioning as a source or sink for carbon dioxide.
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