SADIA SIDDIQUE
2019-MS-DM-08
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE
• The term biogeochemical tells us that Biological, Geological &
Chemical factors are involved.
• In earth science, a biogeochemical cycle is a pathway by which a
chemical substances moves through both Biotic & Abiotic
compartments of earth.
• A cycle is a series of change which comes back to the starting point &
which can be repeated
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE
“More or less circular pathways, through
which the chemical elements, including
all the essential elements of the
protoplasm, circulate in the biosphere
from environment to organisms and back
to the environment, are known as the
Biogeochemical cycle”
TYPES OF BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE
Biogeochemical cycles can be classed as;
GASEOUS CYCLE – The term gaseous cycle refers to the transformation
of gases between various biogeochemical reservoirs; Hydrosphere,
Atmosphere & Biosphere.
• Important gaseous cycles are;
a) Nitrogen Cycle
b) Oxygen Cycle
c) Carbon Cycle
d) Water Cycle
TYPES OF BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE
SEDIMENTARY CYCLES - include the leaching of minerals & salt’s from
the earth’s crust, which then settle as sediment or rock before the cycle
repeats. Sedimentary cycle includes;
a) Phosphorus Cycle
b) Sulfur Cycle
c) Iron Cycle
d) Calcium Cycle
NITROGEN CYCLE
• The majority of earth’s atmosphere is Nitrogen(78%). However,
Atmospheric Nitrogen has limited availability for biological use, and
this form is relatively nonreactive and unusable by plants.
• The Nitrogen cycle is the process by which it is converted between its
various chemical forms.
• This transformation can be carried out through both biological &
physical processes.
NITROGEN CYCLE
Nitrogen
Fixation
Denitrification
Nitrification
Ammonification Assimilation
1. NITROGEN FIXATION
• Atmospheric nitrogen must be fixed in a usable
form to be taken up by plants.
• Mostly fixation of nitrogen to ammonia is done
by free living (azobacter & clostridium) or
symbiotic (rhizobium).
• Symbiotic nitrogen fixing bacteria usually lives
in root nodules of legumes. Here they form a
mutualistic relationship with plants, producing
ammonia in exchange of food
2. NITRIFICATION
• The conversion of ammonia to nitrate is performed primarily by soil living
bacteria & other nitrifying bacteria.
Nitrosomonas • Oxidation of ammonia
species • Ammonia to Nitrites
Nitrobacter • Nitrite into Nitrates
• It is important for the ammonia to be converted to nitrates or nitrites because
ammonia gas is toxic to plants.
3. ASSIMILATION
• Plant take nitrogen from soil by absorption
through their roots as Amino acids, Nitrate
ions, Nitrite ions, or Ammonium ions.
• In plants that have a symbiotic relationship
with Rhizobia, some Nitrogen is
assimilated in the form of ammonium ions
directly from the nodules.
4. AMMONIFICATION
• When a plant or animal dies the initial
forms of Nitrogen is organic.
• Bacteria or fungi convert the organic
Nitrogen within the remains back into
ammonium, the process is called
Ammonification or Mineralization.
5. DENITRIFICATION
• Denitrification is the reduction of nitrates back into the largely inert
Nitrogen gas, completing the cycle.
• This process is performed by bacterial species such as Pseudomonas
& Clostridium in anaerobic conditions.
• They use the nitrate as an electron accepter in the place of oxygen
during respiration.
• diagram
Carbon cycle
PLANTS AND CARBON CYCLE
1. Plants take in carbon dioxide and
convert it into glucose which can be
stored until used for energy. This
process is called photosynthesis.
2. Plant release carbon dioxide as by
product when they convert stored
sugar into chemical energy. This
process is called respiration.
ANIMALS AND THE CARBON CYCLE
• Animals eat carbon contained in
animal and plants tissues and
release carbon dioxide as waste
product during breathing. This
process is called respiration.
DECAY AND THE CARBON CYCLE
• Decomposers release
carbon from dead plants
and animals tissues back
into the atmosphere.
FOSSIL FUELS AND THE CARBON
CYCLE
• Over millions of years fossils fuels may form
from the buried remains of plants and
animals.
• This carbon re enters the
atmosphere during
combustion.
THE OCEAN AND THE CARBON
CYCLE
• Dissolved carbon dioxide in sea water becomes deposited as calcium
carbonate shells.
• Over millions of years those shells form sedimentary rocks.
• Ocean deposits are the biggest sink of carbon on the planet.
• The rock cycle ultimately releases carbon stored in sedimentary rock
OXYGEN CYCLE
• The oxygen cycle is cycle that helps move oxygen through the three
main regions of the earth:
1. the atmosphere
2. the biosphere
3. the lithosphere
1. ATMOSPHERE
• In the atmosphere Oxygen is freed by the process called photolysis.
This is when high energy sunlight breaks apart oxygen bearing
molecules to produce free oxygen.
2. BIOSPHERE
In the biosphere the main cycles are:
• Respiration
• photosynthesis
3. LITHOSPHERE
• The lithosphere mostly fixes oxygen in minerals such as silicates and
oxides.
• A portion of oxygen is freed by chemical weathering.
• When a oxygen bearing mineral is exposed to the elements a
chemical reaction occurs that wears it down and in the process
produces free oxygen.
WATER CYCLE
• Hydrologic cycle- the cycling of water in and out of the atmosphere
and between all of the earth’s components.
WATER CYCLE
Water enters the atmosphere by evaporation and by
transpiration from leaves.
• Evaporation- process by which energy from the
sun causes water on the surface of the earth to
change to water vapor, the gas phase of water, the
first step in the water cycle.
• Transpiration- the process by which moisture is
carried through plants from roots to small pores on
the underside of leaves, where it changes to vapor
and is released to the atmosphere.
WATER CYCLE
It condenses and falls from the
atmosphere as precipitation.
• Condensation- process by which water
vapor changes back into a liquid, the
second step of the water cycle.
• Precipitation– the process by which
water returns to the earth in the form
of rain, snow and hail, the third step of
the water cycle
WATER CYCLE
• When water falls as precipitation on land, it
follows two possible pathways:
1. it returns to the hydrosphere by flowing
as runoff from the land surface into
streams , rivers, lakes, and eventually the
ocean.
2. It returns to the lithosphere by
infiltration into the ground becoming soil
water or ground water. This infiltration
happens when water flows through the
pore space on the earth’s surface.
