Biogeochemical cycle: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	chemical cycle

Photos

Colorful autumn leaves cover the forest floor and a large mossy rock among tall trees with yellow and orange foliage.

Diagram of the carbon cycle showing how carbon moves between the atmosphere, biosphere, land, and ocean. Arrows connect processes like combustion, plant and animal respiration, decomposition, fossil fuel formation, and ocean absorption, with labeled pathways for carbon flow.

Diagram illustrating the nitrogen cycle, showing how nitrogen moves between the atmosphere, biosphere, and soil through natural processes like nitrogen fixation, assimilation, ammonification, nitrification, and denitrification, as well as through human activities such as fertilizer use and industrial emissions. Blue arrows indicate natural activities, and red arrows indicate human activities.

Diagram of the water cycle showing processes like evaporation, condensation, precipitation, transpiration, infiltration, and groundwater flow between land, vegetation, surface water, and the ocean, with labeled arrows and color-coded soil moisture and groundwater zones.

Illustrated diagram of the phosphorus cycle showing phosphate movement from rocks through soil, water, plants, animals, and decomposers, including mining, erosion, runoff, uptake by plants and aquatic organisms, and marine sedimentation.

Diagram illustrating the sulfur cycle, showing how sulfur moves through the biosphere and atmosphere. Arrows trace sulfur emissions from fossil fuel burning and decomposition, deposition from the air, plant uptake, runoff into water, and sediment formation.

Diagram illustrating the oxygen cycle, showing how atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide move between the atmosphere, plants, animals, water, and soil through processes like photosynthesis, respiration, combustion, and precipitation. Blue arrows represent the water cycle, while red and black arrows trace oxygen and carbon dioxide exchanges in the environment.

Figure 1: A schematic representation of the biogeochemical cycle of carbon.

Diagram showing energy flow and nutrient cycling in the biosphere, with sunlight powering producers like plants and algae, which feed consumers. Arrows illustrate nutrient movement through detritus, microbes, soil, water, sediments, and the atmosphere, including fossil fuel formation and weathering.

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Topics

Water cycle gaseous cycle Nitrogen cycle Carbon cycle Phosphorus cycle Sulfur cycle Oxygen cycle nutrient cycle Geochemical cycle Biosphere ecological disturbance biodiversity ecological resilience trophic cascade mesopredator release ecotone biotic potential population biogeographic region natural disaster

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