Biogeochemical cycle

Green house effect

Ozone depletion
Endangered species

Biogeochemical Cycle - is a pathway by which a chemical substance moves

through both biotic and abiotic compartments of Earth such as biosphere, hydrosphere,
lithosphere, and the atmosphere. A cycle is a series of change which comes back to the
starting point and which can be repeated.
The term "biogeochemical" tell us that biological, geological and chemical factors are
all involved. The circulation of chemical nutrients like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen,
phosphorus, calcium, and water through the biological and physical world are known as
biogeochemical cycles. In effect, the element is recycled, although in some cycles there
may be places called reservoirs where the element is accumulated or held for a long
period of time such as an ocean or lake for water.

Pathways of biogeochemical cycles

1. Biosphere The term "biosphere" was coined by geologist Eduard Seuss in

1875, which he defined as the place on Earth's surface where life dwells.
Biosphere includes all living organisms on earth, together with the dead organic
matter produced by them.

2. Hydrosphere - is the total amount of water on a planet. The hydrosphere

includes water that is on the surface of the planet, underground, and in the air. A
planet's hydrosphere can be liquid, vapour, or ice.
Liquid water exists on the surface in the form of oceans, lakes and rivers. It also
exists below ground as a groundwater, in wells and aquifers. Water vapour is
most visible as clouds and fog. The frozen part of Earth's hydrosphere is made of
ice such as glaciers, ice caps and icebergs.

3. Lithosphere - The word lithosphere is derived from the word sphere, combined
with the Greek word lithos, meaning rock. The lithosphere is the solid outer
section of Earth, which includes Earth's crust as well as the underlying cool,
dense, and rigid upper part of the upper mantle. The motion that causes stress
in the rigid rock layers above it, forcing the slabs or plates of the lithosphere to
jostle against each other, much like ice cubes floating in a bowl of swirling water.
This motion of the lithosphere plates is known as plate tectonics, and is
responsible for many of the movements seen on Earth's surface today including
earthquakes, certain types of volcanic activity, and continental drift.

4. Atmosphere - is the layer of gases surrounding the Planet Earth that is retained
by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life by absorbing ultraviolet solar
radiation,

warming

the

surface

through

heat

retention

and

reducing

temperature extremes between day and the night.

Categories and examples of biogeochemical cycles

Basis for the biogeochemical cycles have been categorized into two:
1. Sedimentary cycles: These cycles involve the transportation of matter through
the ground to water; that is to say from the lithosphere to the hydrosphere.
Common examples of cycles under the sedimentary category are:

Phosphorus cycle: Phosphorus is commonly found in water, soil and sediments.

Phosphorus cannot be found in air in the gaseous state. This is because
phosphorus is usually a liquid at standard temperatures and pressures.

Phosphorus is mainly cycled trough water, soil and sediments. However, very
small particles in the atmosphere may contain phosphorus or its compounds.
Phosphorus moves slowly from deposits on land and in sediments, to
living organisms, and much more slowly back into the soil and water sediment.
The phosphorus cycle is the slowest one of the sedimentary cycles.

Sulphur cycle: Sulphur in its natural form is a solid, and restricted to the
sedimentary cycle in this form. It is transported by physical processes like wind,
erosion by water, and geological events like volcanic eruptions. However, in its
compounds such as sulphur dioxide, sulphuric acid, salts of sulphate or organic
sulphur, sulphur can be moved from the ocean to the atmosphere, to land and
then to the ocean through rainfall and rivers.

2. Gaseous cycles: these involve the transportation of matter through the

atmosphere. Common examples of gaseous cycles are:

Carbon cycle: Carbon is one of the most important elements that sustain life on
earth. Carbon dioxide and methane gases in the earth's atmosphere has a
substantial effect on earth's heat balance. It absorbs infrared radiation and hence
may contribute to global warming and climate change.

Nitrogen cycle: Nitrogen gas is the most abundant element in the atmosphere
and all the nitrogen found in terrestrial ecosystems originate from the
atmosphere. The nitrogen cycle is by far the most important nutrient cycle for
plant life.

Oxygen cycle: The oxygen cycle describes the movement of oxygen within and
between its three main reservoirs: the atmosphere, the biosphere, and the
lithosphere. The main driving factor of the oxygen cycle is photosynthesis and
because of this, oxygen and carbon cycles are usually linked and the two cycles
are collectively called oxygen-carbon cycle.

Hydrological cycle: This is sometimes called the water cycle. Water is the most
important chemical of life for all living organisms on earth. Water in the
atmosphere is usually in form of vapor but condenses to liquid water and can
solidify when temperatures are 00C to form ice. Ninety three percent of water on
earth is in solid state mainly comprising the ice caps and glaciers of Polar
Regions.