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Mountain ranges like the Himalayas form part of the world's largest reservoir of carbon: carbonate rock. The Himalayas started off at the bottom of the sea - as sediments rich in calcium carbonate. Now they are tilted and buckled, but once they were flat layers of underwater sediment.
Today some parts of the Himalayas are still rising - as fast as your fingernails are growing. These uplifted mountains are huge stores of carbon, re-exposed. Mountains like these are the most spectacular examples of carbonate rocks. But, less spectacularly, calcium carbonate can be a major part of common soils as well.
Where do you find the carbon?
Rock containing carbonate carbon, mostly limestone
What form of carbon?
Mainly calcium carbonate
How long will the carbon remain?
Tens to hundreds of million of years
How much carbon is there?
About 40 million x 1012 kg C
What processes will free the carbon?
Weathering, volcanism, dissolution
This page forms part of the hints for Element On The Move.
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