Thread by @RARohde

Animated diagram of the Earth's Carbon Cycle and how it has changed over time.

Carbon, in various forms including CO2 and organic materials, is continually exchanged between the atmosphere, oceans, and biosphere.

However, human activities have perturbed the carbon cycle.

First frame of the animation, showing the estimated carbon stocks and flows before human intervention.

Each year large amounts of carbon move between reservoirs, but over time a natural equilibrium was achieved so that the total carbon in each group stays about constant.

For thousands of years, the pre-industrial carbon cycle was in balance and a nearly constant level of CO2 was maintained in the atmosphere.

Then humans discovered the usefulness of fossil fuels, and we started to add large amounts of carbon to the atmosphere.

Final frame of the animation, showing the fossil fuels we have burned and the effect that this has had on the stocks and flows of carbon.

Via the carbon cycle, the fossil carbon we burned is now dispersed into the atmosphere, ocean, and biosphere.

Over a few hundred years, more of the emitted carbon will find its way into the oceans. If we stop burning large amounts of fossil fuels, this would allow CO2 levels in the atmosphere to decline somewhat.

However, the main mechanism for getting carbon back into the Earth is through sediment formation. That's a very slow process.

Natural processes will likely take >100,000 years for the extra carbon we've added by burning fossil fuels to go back into the Earth.

PS. The animation is also available on YouTube, which may be easier to share and looks a bit crisper: