MOUNT CARMEL COLLEGE OF TEACHER

EDUCATION FOR WOMEN

EDU 106.14: ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

TOPIC:- MODULE 2.4− BIO-GEO CHEMICAL CYCLE

BY:
RINCY SARA ROY
 INTRODUCTION

 Essential elements or inorganic substances, provided by earth are known

as biogeochemicals or biogenetic nutrients.

 These are required by organisms for their body building and metabolism.

 Matter is neither created nor destroyed but it is used again and again in
the formation of organisms and hence recycled.

 In the term biogeochemical, bio refers to the biosphere. Geo refers to the
lithoshere, atmosphere and hydrosphere. Chemical refers to the various
chemicals that travel through the biogeochemical cycles.
 BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE

 The exchange of materials between living and non-living components of

biosphere is called biogeochemical cycles. These nutrients flow from non-
living to living and back to the non-living in a circular fashion.
or
 A biogeochemical cycle is a circuit or pathway by which a chemical
element moves through the biotic and abiotic factors of an ecosystem.

 Chemicals may be accumulated in a place called Sink/reservoir, held for a

long period of time. The amount of time a chemical is held in one place is
called residence.
1) CARBON CYCLE

 Carbon has the ability to exist in gaseous, liquid and solid forms and hence
it occurs in various reservoirs.

 Carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas- 0.03% by volume of the troposphere - also

dissolved in water.

 The producers use CO₂ (from air or water) for photosynthesis and form
glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆).

 This food or glucose is taken up by the consumers and decomposers. Their

cells break down glucose and other complex organic compounds into CO₂
which is added back into atmosphere by respiration.
 Carbon also lies deep in the earth in fossil fuels like coal, petroleum and
natural gas. It is released into the atmosphere as CO₂ after their burning.

 CO₂ also enters into atmosphere from volcanic eruptions.

 Most of the earth’s carbon is stored in ocean floor sediments and on

continents. This carbon re-enters the cycle very slowly.

 Increased concentration of CO₂ enhances the green house effect on earth.

This in turn can alter the climatic patterns, disrupt global food production,
water availability, wildlife habitats and raise average sea level.
The Carbon Cycle
2) OXYGEN CYCLE

 Oxygen (O₂)- 2ⁿᵈ most abundant element in the earth’s atmosphere -

forms about 21% of the atmospheric gases.

 The living organisms ( plants, animals & decomposers) take O₂ from the
atmosphere and water and utilise it for respiration converting O₂ into CO₂
and water. These go into the air.

 The combustion of fuels removes oxygen from the atmosphere and

produces CO₂ and water vapours, which go into the atmosphere.

 The CO₂ and water are utilised by green plants during the process of
photosynthesis and O₂ is released to the atmosphere as a by-product.
3) WATER/HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

 Main processes in water cycle- evaporation, transpiration, infiltration,

percolation, and run off.

 Water evaporates from oceans, streams, lakes, soil and vegetation with
the help of sun’s energy. The amount of water vapours air can hold
depends on its temperature (warm air can hold more water than cool air).

 When temperature falls, water vapours condense into tiny droplets that
form clouds or fog. Water droplets in the form of rain falls back into the
sea and over the land.

 Some rain water that falls on the ground, seeps into surface soil layers and
then percolates downward into the ground dissolving minerals from
porous rocks on the way. This mineral water is stored as ground water.
  Humans intervene in the water cycle in two ways:
i. When we withdraw large quantities of fresh water from water sources.
ii. When we clear vegetation from land. This increases run off, reduces
seepage and increases the risk of flooding.
4) PHOSPHORUS CYCLE

 Phosphorus circulates through water, the earth’s crust and living

organisms.

 Phosphorus and its compounds do not exist in the gaseous state, in the
earth’s normal temperature and hence does not circulate in the
atmosphere.

 Phosphorus is released by weathering i.e. slow break down of rocks and is

dissolved in soil water and then taken up by plant roots.

 The decay of dead animals and producers return much of this phosphorus
to the soil to streams and to ocean bottoms as deposits of phosphate
rocks.
  Some phosphate returns to the land as phosphate rich manure. It happens
by slow geologic processes that over millions of year may push up and
expose the sea floor. Weathering then slowly releases phosphorus from
the exposed rocks and continues the cycle.

 Humans intervene in phosphorus cycle in two ways:

i. When large quantities of phosphate rocks are mined by us for use in
commercial inorganic fertilizers and detergents.
ii. When we add excess phosphorus to aquatic ecosystem in runoff of
wastes from cattle, commercial phosphate fertilizers and municipal
sewage.
5) SULPHUR CYCLE

 Most of the earth’s sulphur is tied up underground in rocks( as iron

disulphide or pyrite) and minerals, including sulphate salts( such as
hydrous calcium sulphate or gypsum) buried deep under ocean sediments.

 Hydrogen Sulphide (H₂S) gas is released from active volcanoes and the
breakdown of organic matter swamps and from anaerobic decomposers.
Sulphur dioxide (SO₂) also comes from volcanoes. Sulphate salts
(SO₄²ˉ)enter the atmosphere from sea spray.

 In the atmosphere, SO₂ reacts with oxygen to produce SO₃, then reacts
with water vapours to produce tiny droplets of sulphuric acid (H₂ SO₄). SO₂
also reacts with other chemicals in the atmosphere to produce tiny
particles of sulphate salts.(These particles and droplets that fall on the
earth, along with other air pollutants can harm life.)
  Human intervenes in the sulphur cycle in two ways:
i. By burning sulphur containing coal and oil to produce electric power.
ii. By refining petroleum, smelting sulphur compounds of metallic minerals
into free metals such as copper, lead and zinc and using other industrial
process.
6) NITROGEN CYCLE

 Organisms require nitrogen in various chemical forms to synthesize

proteins, nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA and other nitrogen
containing organic compounds.

 The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen gas into other chemical forms

useful to plants is called nitrogen fixation. It is carried out by certain
kinds of bacteria (mostly cyanobacteria) in soil and water and by
rhizobium bacteria living in small nodules on the roots of leguminous
plants.

 Lightening also helps in nitrogen fixation, by converting N2 and O2 in the

atmosphere into nitric oxide (NO). Some of this gas combines with
nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). These gases react with water vapours in the
atmosphere and are converted into nitrate ions that return to earth as
nitric acid(HNO₃) dissolved in precipitation.
 Plants convert inorganic nitrate ions and ammonium ions obtained from
soil water into proteins, DNA and other large compounds. Animals get
their nitrogen food by eating plants or other animals which have eaten
plants.

 The decomposers breakdown the nitrogen containing dead organisms

into simple inorganic compounds as ammonia gas(NH₃), water soluble
salts (NH₄⁺), nitrate(NO₂⁻) and (NO₃⁻) nitrate ions in the soil and then into
nitrogen gas, which is released to the atmosphere.
 CONCLUSION

 The planet’s biogeochemical cycles are the mechanisms that cause the
transfer of matter.

 The term ‘biogeochemical cycle’ comes from the biological, geological

and chemical processes that cause the transfer of matter.

 Since the different cycles are naturally occurring, they are considered as
natural cycles.

 Humans have largely harmed, the planet’s biogeochemical cycles.

THANK YOU…