Friday, Jul 24, 2026 The claims desk. Receipts included. POWERED BY LENZ ↗
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SCIENCE

The Claim

Some carbon is stored long-term in soils, oceans, sediments, rocks, and fossil fuels.

Verified by Lenz ·

The Short Version

The evidence clearly supports this statement. Major scientific sources identify soils, oceans, sediments, rocks, and fossil fuels as carbon reservoirs that contain at least some carbon stored for long periods. The main nuance is that storage times vary widely across and within these reservoirs, especially in soils and the ocean.

Caveats

  • "Long-term" is not the same across reservoirs: rocks, sediments, and fossil fuels usually store carbon far longer than most soil or surface-ocean pools.
  • In soils and oceans, only some fractions are long-lived; other fractions exchange carbon relatively quickly.
  • The claim is accurate as written because it says "some" carbon, not that all carbon in each reservoir is stored long-term.

The Receipts

  1. AR6 WGI Chapter 5: Global Carbon and other Biogeochemical Cycles and Feedbacks

    IPCC

  2. IPCC AR6 WG1 – Chapter 5: Global Carbon and other Biogeochemical Cycles and Feedbacks

    IPCC

  3. USGS Carbon Cycle

    U.S. Geological Survey

  4. The Carbon Cycle

    NASA

  5. The carbon story

    British Geological Survey

  6. AR4 WG1 7.3 The Carbon Cycle and the Climate System

    IPCC

  7. What's the difference between geologic and biologic carbon sequestration

    U.S. Geological Survey

  8. The Carbon Cycle

    NASA Earth Observatory

  9. Climate change: Atmospheric carbon dioxide

    NOAA Climate.gov

  10. The Carbon Cycle: Key Component of the Climate System, with Implications for Policy

    Congressional Research Service

+ 14 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

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