5: Cycles: Salt, Carbon, Gases, Heat & Nutrients
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- 5.4: The Carbon Cycle
- Carbon is the building block of life, which is constantly cycled throughout the Earth in physical, biological, and chemical processes. Carbon can exist in many forms, and although these are always changing, there exists a stable equilibrium where a constant amount of carbon is cycling. This carbon is stored in the atmosphere, plants, animals, rocks, and water. When organisms die or rocks decay, carbon is released into the atmosphere and the cycle continues.