Deep marine sediment formations far from tectonic plate edges represent stable regions which have not been sufficiently considered for their potential permanent storage capacity of carbon dioxide. The purpose of this paper is to review mechanisms involving carbon dioxide which may be significant on various geological time scales, and to consider how these might relate to the geological evidence of past surface conditions. There is evidence that large fluctuations in atmospheric carbon dioxide have occurred in the past. In order to predict even the broad outline of this adjustment, it is necessary to consider the behaviour of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the oceans, the sediments and in the deep lithosphere. The ultimate adjustment of the system to anthropogenic inputs of fossil fuel carbon will take many tens of thousands of years, and the time constants of this process cannot be predicted with accuracy at the present state of knowledge. However, it is possible to draw inferences from what is known, and the conclusions have relevance to discussion of the question of disposal of carbon dioxide within deep sedimentary systems.