the biggest reservoir of carbon on earth is in the
Carbon cycle The ocean contains the greatest quantity of actively cycled carbon in this world and are second only to the lithosphere in the amount of carbon they store.[2] Its surface layer holds large amounts of dissolved inorganic carbon that is exchanged rapidly with the atmosphere. The deep layer's concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) is about 15% higher than that of the surface layer.[13] DIC is stored in the deep layer for much longer periods of time.[4] Thermohaline circulation exchanges carbon between these two layers.[2]