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Title: Why does Earth have so little carbon dioxide in its atmosphere, when Earth shoul Post by: ppk on May 3, 2012 Why does Earth have so little carbon dioxide in its atmosphere, when Earth should have outgassed about as much of it as Venus?
Title: Re: Why does Earth have so little carbon dioxide in its atmosphere, when Earth shoul Post by: lewis on May 6, 2012 The answer to this question is that Earth has oceans. Carbon dioxide can dissolve in water, and the oceans actually contain much more carbon dioxide than the atmosphere. However, most of the carbon dioxide is locked up in rocks on the seafloor. Rainfall erodes rocks on Earth's surface. These rocks react with dissolved carbon dioxide in the oceans to form carbonate minerals, which fall to the ocean floor.
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