Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere initial carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the young Earth was produced by volcanic activity, modern volcanic activity releases only 130 to 230 megatonnes of carbon dioxide each year. These natural sources are nearly balanced by natural sinks, physical and biological processes which remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. For example, some is directly removed from the atmosphere by land plants for photosynthesis and it is soluble in water forming carbonic acid. There is a large natural flux of into and out of the biosphere and oceans. In the pre-industrial era these fluxes were largely in balance. Currently about 57%
Carbon dioxide combustion of all carbon-based fuels, such as methane (natural gas), petroleum distillates (gasoline, diesel, kerosene, propane), coal, wood and generic organic matter produces carbon dioxide and, except in the case of pure carbon, water. As an example, the chemical reaction between methane and oxygen: It is produced by thermal decomposition of limestone, by heating (calcining) at about , in the manufacture of quicklime (calcium oxide, ), a compound that has many industrial uses: Iron is reduced from its oxides with coke in a blast furnace, producing pig iron and carbon dioxide: Carbon dioxide is a byproduct of the industrial production