The carbonate pump is sometimes referred to as the “hard tissue” component of the biological pump. Some surface marine organisms, like coccolithophores, produce hard structures out of calcium carbonate, a form of particulate inorganic carbon, by fixing bicarbonate. This fixation of DIC is an important part of the oceanic carbon cycle.
Ca + 2 HCO → CaCO + CO + HO
While the biological carbon pump fixes inorganic carbon (CO) into particulate organic carbon in the form of sugar (CHO), the carbonate pump fixes inorganic bicarbonate and causes a net release of CO. In this way, the carbonate pump could be termed the carbonate counter pump. It works counter to the biological pump by counteracting the CO flux into the biological pump.