APES 1.4 Carbon Cycle

Photosynthesis: Land and ocean, uses CO2 to create sugars for producers
Respiration: Land and ocean, sugars are converted back to CO2
Burial/sedimentation: Land and ocean, carbon is buried
Extraction: Human extraction of fossil fuels and subsequent combustion, releasing back into the cycle
Exchange: CO2 dissolves into the ocean and is lifted into the atmosphere at an equal rate
Combustion: Converts fossil fuels and plant material into CO2

In this cycle, carbon moves through reservoirs of the atmosphere and ocean, through organisms, and then back again.
Photosynthesizers capture the carbon and use it to make sugars and sustenance (these are called producers, or autotrophs.)
The cycle continues in organisms as producers are eaten and eventually exits as respiration or decomposition.

In aquatic environments, carbon is in shelled creatures that can become buried, depositing carbon into the ground.

Carbon is slowly converted into huge reservoirs of oil, natural gas, and other fossil fuels.
They can stay like this for millions of years.