BIOGEOCHEMICAL

CYCLES

Prepared by: Ms. Sarah Pagulayan

Biogeochemical Cycles
1. Water Cycle
2. Oxygen Cycle
3. Carbon Cycle
4. Nitrogen Cycle
5. Phosphorus Cycle
The Water
Cycle
Water never leaves the Earth. It is constantly
being cycled through the atmosphere, ocean,
and land. This process, known as the water
cycle, is driven by energy from the sun. The
water cycle is crucial to the existence of life on
our planet.
 The Water Cycle

During part of the water cycle, the sun heats up liquid water and changes it to a gas
by the process of evaporation. Water that evaporates from Earth’s oceans, lakes,
rivers, and moist soil rises up into the atmosphere.
The process of
evaporation from plants
is called transpiration.
(In other words, it’s like
plants sweating.)
As water (in the form of gas) rises higher
in the atmosphere, it starts to cool and
become a liquid again. This process is
called condensation. When a large
amount of water vapor condenses, it
results in the formation of clouds.
When the water in the clouds gets
too heavy, the water falls back to
the earth. This is called
precipitation.
 DID YOU KNOW?

How many gallons of water fall when 1 inch

(2.5 cm) of rain falls on 1 acre of land?

27,154 gallons of water!

 DID YOU KNOW?

The world's record for average-annual

rainfall belongs to Mt. Waialeale, Hawaii,
where it averages about 450 inches (38
ft) per year.
 DID YOU KNOW?

The world’s record for least amount of rain goes

to Antofagasta Region, Atacama Desert, Chile at 0
inches in one year! – It takes 6 gallons of water to
grow the potatoes for your order of fries! – For
your hamburger it takes 1300 gallons of water to
produce everything needed!
When rain falls on the land, some of the water is
absorbed into the ground forming pockets of
water called groundwater. Most groundwater
eventually returns to the ocean. Other
precipitation runs directly into streams or rivers.
Water that collects in rivers, streams, and oceans
is called runoff.
 DID YOU KNOW?

Water stays in certain places longer than others. A

drop of water may spend over 3,000 years in the
ocean before moving on to another part of the
water cycle while a drop of water spends an
average of just eight days in the atmosphere
before falling back to Earth.
 Biological Importance of
Oxygen
- Humans need it to breathe.
- Needed for decomposition of organic
Oxygen waste.
Cycle - Water can dissolve oxygen and it is
dissolved oxygen that supports aquatic
life.
 BIOSPHERE

ATMOSPHERE

LITHOSPHERE

Oxygen HYDROSPHERE
STEP ONE OF OXYGEN CYCLE
• Plant release oxygen
into the atmosphere
as a by – product of
photosynthesis.
 STEP TWO OF OXYGEN CYCLE
• Animals take in oxygen
through the process of
respiration.
• Animals then break down
sugars and food.
 STEP THREE IN OXYGEN CYCLE
• Carbon dioxide is released by animals and
used in plants in photosynthesis.
• Oxygen is balanced between the
atmosphere and the ocean.
 HOW DO PLANTS CONTRIBUTE?
• The oxygen cycle begins with plants and
photosynthesis.
• Through photosynthesis, plants convert the
energy from the sun and water into carbohydrates
and oxygen.
• During the day:
• During the night:
 HOW DO LIVING ORGANISMS
CONTRIBUTE?
• Humans and animals breathe in oxygen and
breathe out carbon dioxide through their
processes of metabolism, sparking the
process of photosynthesis, once again
linking back to the plants’ contribution to the
oxygen cycle.
Carbon Cycle
What is Carbon?
• An element
• Found in rocks, oceans, atmosphere
 The same carbon atoms are used repeatedly on
earth. They cycle between the earth and the
atmosphere.
 Plants Use Carbon Dioxide
• Plants pull carbon
dioxide from the
atmosphere and use it
to make food –—
photosynthesis.
• The carbon becomes
part of the plant (stored
food).
 Animals Eat Plants
• When organisms eat plants, they take in
the carbon and some of it becomes part of
their own bodies.
 Plants and Animal Die
• When plants and animals die, most of
their bodies are decomposed and
carbon atoms are returned to the
atmosphere.

• Some are not decomposed fully and

end up in deposits underground (oil,
coal, etc.).
 Carbon Slowly Returns to
Atmosphere

• Carbon in rocks and underground deposits is

released very slowly into the atmosphere.

• This process takes many years.

 Carbon Cycle Diagram
Carbon in Atmosphere

Plants use
Decomposers carbon to make
break down dead food
things, releasing
carbon to
atmosphere and Plants and
soil animals die

Fossil fuels are

burned; carbon Animals eat
is returned to plants and
atmosphere take in carbon
Bodies not
decomposed —
after many
Carbon slowly years, become
released from part of oil or coal
these substances deposits
returns to
atmosphere
 Carbon in Oceans

• Additional carbon is stored in the ocean.

• Many animals pull carbon from water to use in
shells, etc.
• Animals die and carbon substances are deposited
at the bottom of the ocean.
• Oceans contain earth’s largest store of carbon.
The Carbon Cycle
Nitrogen Cycle
 N
N

Atmospheric
Nitrogen (N2)
N N

Ammonia (NH3) Nitrates (NO3)

Nitrogen combines with Nitrogen combines with
Hydrogen to make Oxygen to make Nitrates
Ammonia
 It is one of nature’s great
ironies…

Although the majority of

the air we breathe is
nitrogen, most living
organisms are unable to
use nitrogen as it exists in
the atmosphere!
 N
N

By traveling through one of the four processes in the

Nitrogen Cycle!

(4) (1) Nitrogen

Denitrification Fixation
Nitrogen
Cycle

(2)
(3)
Ammonification
Nitrification
 N
“Nitrogen Fixation” is the process that causes the N
strong two-atom nitrogen molecules found in the
atmosphere to break apart so they can combine
with other atoms.

N
Oxygen Hydrogen N

Hydrog
en
N
N
N Oxygen N

Nitrogen gets “fixed” when it is combined with oxygen or hydrogen.

(a) Atmospheric Fixation

(b) Industrial Fixation

(c) Biological Fixation

Bacteria
Atmospheric Fixation
N
(Only 5 to 8% of the Fixation Process) N O
The enormous energy of lightning breaks
nitrogen molecules apart and enables the
nitrogen atoms to combine with oxygen
forming nitrogen oxides (N2O). Nitrogen
oxides dissolve in rain, forming nitrates. (N2O)
Nitrates (NO3) are carried to the ground (NO3)
with the rain.
 NN
H

N
H3

Industrial Plant combines nitrogen

and hydrogen

(NH3) Ammonia is formed

Ammonia is used a fertilizer in soil

Free Living Bacteria Symbiotic Relationship Bacteria
(“fixes” 30% of N2) (“fixes” 70% of N2)
Very few plants can use ammonia
(NH3)…
(1) Nitrogen Fixation

(2) Ammonification

…but, fortunately the second

process Ammonification can help!
Ammonification: Bacteria decomposers break down amino acids
from dead animals and wastes into nitrogen ammonium.

Bacteria decomposers break down amino acids into ammonium

Because plants cannot use the organic forms of
nitrogen that are in the soil as a result of:
(1) wastes (manure and sewage)
(2) compost and decomposing roots and leaves
How does
ammonification occur?
Microorganisms convert the organic nitrogen to ammonium.
The ammonium is either taken up by the plants (only in a few
types of plants) or is absorbed into the soil particles.
Ammonium (NH4) in the soil is stored up to later be changed
into inorganic nitrogen, the kind of nitrogen that most plants
can use.

Bacteria converts organic nitrogen to ammonium

(NH4)

Ammonium (NH4) is used by some

plants

Bacteria

Ammonium (NH4) is stored

in soil.
What happens to ammonium
(NH4) stored in the soil?
It travels through the third process
of the nitrogen cycle called Nitrification!

(1) Nitrogen Fixation

(3) Nitrification (2) Ammonification

 Nitrifying bacteria in the ground first combine
ammonia with oxygen to form nitrites. Then another
group of nitrifying bacteria convert nitrites to nitrates
which green plants can absorb and use!

Ammonia Nitrites Nitrates

(NH3) (NO2) (NO3)

Through the fourth process
called denitrification!

(1) Nitrogen Fixation

(4) Denitrification

(3) Ammonification (2) Nitrification

What does
denitrification
do?
 Nitrogen in atmosphere (N2)

Nitrates (NO3) in Soil

How does the
denitrification
process work?

Nitrates in soil
Denitrifying bacteria live deep in soil and in aquatic sediments
where conditions make it difficult for them to get oxygen. The
denitrifying bacteria use nitrates as an alternative to oxygen, leaving
free nitrogen gas as a byproduct. They close the nitrogen cycle!

Nitrogen in atmosphere closes the

nitrogen cycle!

(N2)

(NO3)

Denitrifying bacteria live deep in soil

and use nitrates as an alternative to
oxygen making a byproduct of
nitrogen gas.
 Other ways that nitrogen
returns to the atmosphere…

Emissions from industrial combustion and gasoline Volcano eruptions emit

engines create nitrous oxides gas (N2O). nitrous oxides gas (N2O).
The Phosphorus
Cycle
 The Cycle
The phosphorus cycle is long and
slow, but it is an important part of the
environment. It helps plants grow, and
is used by farmers to fertilize them.
When animals eat the plants, they
absorb phosphates.
When the animals die, their body
decays and the phosphorus is
absorbed into the soil, where it re-
enters plants. What isn’t absorbed
by plants ends up in rock, and may
stay there for millions of years,
slowly being released as the rocks
weather.
Atmosphere

The Phosphorus cycle has no

involvement in the atmosphere,
because it does not naturally form in
gaseous forms.
Hydrosphere
 Phosphorous usually enters the hydrosphere
by the phosphate salt rocks found on the
ocean floor. As the water erodes them away,
the phosphorous escapes.
 Marine organisms take some of the
phosphorus particles in order to live and
grow.
Lithosphere
• Phosphorous is presented in the form of
rocks and soil.
• Phosphates go down to the bottom of the
ocean and forms rocks over million of
years.
• Phosphates enters the soil when plant and
animal matter decompose, the cycle repeats.
Biosphere
• Phosphorous is used for organisms to build
DNA, RNA, etc...
• Phosphate is in plants, which the herbivores
eat, which the herbivores are eaten by the
carnivores. Than phosphorus is released
back into the soil by the herbivores and
carnivores waste.
SULFUR CYCLE
• Is the collection pf processes by which sulfur moves to and from
minerals (including waterways) and living systems.
• Found in rocks or buried deep in the ocean in oceanic sediments.
• Found in the atmosphere (enter through both natural and human
sources)
 IMPORTANCE OF SULFUR
•Important elements of industrial processes.
•Sulfur is found in every living cell.
•Component of penicillin – class antibiotics.
•Medications for dandruff, and warts have
this ingredient. Combining alcohol and
sulfur can be used to treat acne and other
skin disorders.
POSITIVE EFFECT OF SULFUR
• Used in many industrial uses.
• Also serve many functions in plants such as used
in formation of amino acid, protein and oil.
• Used in chlorophyll formation.
 ELEMENTS INVOLVED IN CYCLE
•Sulfur
•Sulfate
•Sulfur Dioxide
•Hydrogen sulfide
 ESSENTIAL STEPS OF THE SULFUR
CYCLE
1. Mineralization of organic sulfur to the
inorganic form, hydrogen sulfide.
2. Oxidation of sulfide and elemental sulfur
and related compounds to sulfate.
3. Reduction of sulfate to sulfide.
4. Microbial immobilization of the sulfur
compounds are subsequent incorporation
into the organic form of sulfur.
 STEPS OF THE SULFUR CYCLE

•Volcanic activity, and industrial factories

emit sulfur dioxide into biosphere and
atmosphere
 STEPS OF THE SULFUR CYCLE

•Sulfur waste is absorbed by surrounding

regions such as water, and the atmosphere.
 STEPS OF THE SULFUR CYCLE

•Dimethyl sulfur is released from the oceans,

then reacts to oxygen gases to form sulfur
dioxide.
•Eventually, the sulfur count will accumulate
large enough to produce clouds.
•The sulfur will return to the surface when
the clouds releases in sulfuric acid.
 STEPS OF THE SULFUR CYCLE
•The sulfuric acid is unharmful to life, its
purpose is to provide plants sulfur and to
continue the cycle.
•Animals consume the plantation therefore
taking an amount of sulfur when they eat it.
•When animals poops or dies sulfur is
returned to the soil in the decomposition
process.