Download Biogeochemical Cycle Comparison Chart

Biogeochemical Cycle Comparison Chart
CYCLE
Why important?
Compartments?
Sphere/form of
nutrient/location/time
frame
Flows/Processes
Water
Fresh water, needed
for life
land use decisions,
Water pollution
 Lithosphere: liquid, above
surface (fast),
 surface soils (rel. fast), deep
in ground (slow,
 many years)
 Biosphere: plants, animals
liquid
 Hydrosphere: mostly liquid
(fast/slow/really
 slow –
streams/groundwater/glaciers
)






Evaporation/Transpiration
Condensation/Precip.
Run‐off
Infiltration
Percolation
(Absorption)
Carbon
 C bonds=energy!
 Organic molecules,
 Climate change
 Bios: biomass, energy
(fast) structure (slow)
 Atm: CO2, CH4 (medium)
global warming!
 Lithosphere: fossil fuel
and sedimentary (very
slow)
 Hydrosphere:
equilibrium with ocean


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

Respiration/Photosyn
Weathering, run‐off
Shell, rock, fuel formation
Combustion, volcanoes,
Sedimentation/lithification
Nitrogen




 Atmosphere (main): N2
stable
 Bios: absorb into
tissues, amino acids
(medium)

Lithosphere: NH3/NH4+
NO2‐toxic NO3‐
 (medium)
 Hydrosphere: run‐off
(short‐term)




Nitrogen fixation
Nitrification
Assimilation (uptake by
plants/animals)
Denitrification (to N2)

Nutrient,
amino acids/
proteins/nucleic
acids
eutrophication

Additional Interesting
Notes


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

Some purification,
Some contamination
Evapotranspiration
Leaching
Erosion
 Climate
“thermostat”
 Sinks/sources
 Ocean acidification
 Lots of types of
bacteria!
 Can cause algae
blooms
Sulfur


Phosphorus
Acid rain,
 Often limiting
nutrient,
 DNA, ATP
 Cell membranes,
 Lithosphere: (main) –
in rock
 Atmosphere: SO2, H2S
from volcanoes or fossil
fuel burning
 Bios: less significant
assim (some proteins),
decomposition, some
deposition on plants
 Hydro: SO4‐2, forms
DMS, spray





 Lithosphere: (main) in
rock (slow unless mined)
 Bios: absorbs through
roots in plants, consumers
eat plants
 Hydrosphere: some in
solution, sediments (slow)






Combustion of coal
Volcanoes, vents
Wet/dry deposition
Assimilation, Decomp.
Weathering/run‐off
Sedimentation/lithification



Assimilation, Decomp.
Weathering
Leaching/run‐off to rivers,
to ocean.
Mining, fertilizing



More regional than
global,
DMS condensation
nuclei, smell
Upwelling
Guano
 No atmospheric
component
 Can cause algae
blooms