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MUCLecture 2025 12153372

The document discusses biogeochemical cycles, which are pathways through which chemical substances move between living and nonliving components of Earth, including the water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles. It highlights the importance of elements like carbon, nitrogen, and others in sustaining life and their recycling within ecosystems. The document also addresses how human activities can disrupt these cycles, particularly in relation to nitrogen.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
23 views6 pages

MUCLecture 2025 12153372

The document discusses biogeochemical cycles, which are pathways through which chemical substances move between living and nonliving components of Earth, including the water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles. It highlights the importance of elements like carbon, nitrogen, and others in sustaining life and their recycling within ecosystems. The document also addresses how human activities can disrupt these cycles, particularly in relation to nitrogen.

Uploaded by

khetamjameel11
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Al-Mustaqbal University

College of Science
Department of Medical physics
3th stage \ 2024 - 2025

Environmental Pollution

5th Lecture

Biogeochemical Cycles

1
The ways in which an elementor, in some cases, a compound such as water
moves between its various living and nonliving forms and locations is called a
biogeochemical cycle. This name reflects the importance of chemistry and
geology as well as biology in helping us understand these cycles.
Biogeochemical is a pathway by which a chemical substance moves through
biotic (biosphere) and abiotic (lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere)
compartments of Earth. The set of changes that occur to the chemical that brings
it back to the starting point, which can be repeated.
Ecological systems have many biogeochemical cycles operating as a part of the
system, for example the water cycle, the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, etc. All
chemical elements occurring in organisms are part of biogeochemical cycles. In
addition to being a part of living organisms, these chemical elements also cycle
through abiotic factors of ecosystems such as water (hydrosphere), land
(lithosphere), and/or the air (atmosphere).
The living factors of the planet can be referred to collectively as the biosphere.
All the nutrients—such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur—
used in ecosystems by living organisms are a part of a closed system; therefore,
these chemicals are recycled instead of being lost and replenished constantly such
as in an open system.
Which biogeochemical cycles are key to life?
Water makes up more than half of our bodies, but humans cannot live by water
alone. Instead, there are some other chemical elements that keep our bodies
running and are part of biogeochemical cycles: carbon (C), hydrogen (H),
nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), phosphorous (P) and sulfur (S). These are the building
blocks of life, and are used for essential processes, such as metabolism, the
formation of amino acids, cell respiration and the building of tissues.
These cycles don't happen in isolation, and the water cycle is a particularly
important driver of other biogeochemical cycles. For example, the movement of
water is critical for the leaching of nitrogen and phosphate into rivers, lakes.
The most well-known and important biogeochemical cycles are:
Carbon Cycle:
The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged
among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the
Earth. Carbon is the backbone of life on Earth. We are made of carbon, we eat

2
carbon, and our civilizations, our economies, our homes, our means of transport
are built on carbon.
The most well-known and important biogeochemical cycles are:
Carbon Cycle:
The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged
among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the
Earth. Carbon is the backbone of life on Earth. We are made of carbon, we eat
carbon, and our civilizations, our economies, our homes, our means of transport
are built on carbon.
Carbon is found in the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide(CO2) as it is
found in the compounds that form the bodies of wild and marine biology and their
structures, and in the soil within the organic matter and humus, and in the
hydrosphere as (CO3-2,HCO3) dissolved in water Also, it is found in the
lithosphere of limestone (CaCO3) and dolomite CaMg(CO3)2and fossil fuels
(coal, oil, and natural gas) and that carbon is contained within the organic matter
(organic carbon) and within the inorganic material (non organic
carbon).
The carbon cycle begins with taking green plants (products) carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere in the process of photosynthesis to produce organic compounds
and in the plant also breathing is done, that results in CO2gas which returns to the
atmosphere, and then is used in the building process Photosynthesis so that the
cycle is completed by returning to the plant.

Fig (1): Carbon Cycle

3
The carbon cycle is closely related to CO2 The carbon cycle often follows more
complex paths; After the carbon gained by the plant turns into organic materials,
the animals (consumables) feed on it, the process of digesting, absorbing and
representing the organic materials contributes to building animal tissues.
Accordingly, the carbon atoms in the plant become part of the composition of the
cells of the animal's body that feed on them.
Carbon can be returned to the atmosphere through the breathing process, resulting
in carbon dioxide. And the remaining carbon in the cells and tissues of the
consuming living organisms loses part of it through its secretions and excreta.
After its death, carbon devolves into the organic matter from which it can return
to the atmosphere due to the processes of aerobic decomposition by
microorganisms. This process is called a rapid carbon cycle. There is a portion
of organic carbon that does not pass cycles of this type and quickly, as it can track
a longer pathway; In marine animals, carbon is included in the formation of solid
parts, such as the shells of mollusks, in the form of calcium carbonate. After long
periods of time, carbon deposits in the limestone rocks of the marine sediments
of these shells. A large portion of CO2dissolves in sea, ocean and lake waters,
which can lead to sedimentation of limestone, carbon fixation. These rocks are
subjected to chemical weathering processes, which leads to the return of a portion
of the installed carbon to the atmosphere in the form of CO2. This is called a slow
carbon cycle.
Nitrogen cycle:
circulation of nitrogen in various forms through nature. Nitrogen, a component
of proteins and nucleic acids, is essential to life on Earth. Although 78 percent by
volume of the atmosphere is nitrogen gas, this abundant reservoir exists in a form
unusable by most organisms. Through a series of microbial transformations,
however, nitrogen is made available to plants, which in turn ultimately sustain all
animal life.
Nitrogen fixation is a process by which molecular nitrogen in the air is converted
into ammonia NH3 or related nitrogenous compounds in soil. Atmospheric
nitrogen is molecular dinitrogen, a relatively nonreactive molecule that is
metabolically useless to all but a few microorganisms. Biological nitrogen
fixation converts N2into ammonia, which is metabolized by most organisms.
After the death of plants and animals, they are exposed to decomposition by
certain bacteria and fungi. These microorganisms produce ammoniaNH3from
nitrogen compounds in the dead organic matter and in animal body waste. Then
the plants absorb some ammonia and use it to make proteins and other substances

4
necessary for life. The ammonia that is not absorbed by the plants turns into
nitrate( NO3compounds) by nitrifying bacteria.
There are two types of nitrifying bacteria: nitrite bacteria that convert ammonia
into nitrites (NO2 compounds) and nitrate bacteria, which convert nitrites into
nitrates. Plants absorb most of the nitrates and use them in the same way as
ammonia. As for animals, they obtain nitrogen from eating plants or other animals
that eat plants.
Although nitrogen fixation takes nitrogen from the air, a reverse process called
nitrogen restoration returns almost the same amount of nitrogen to the air.
Bacteria returning nitrogen turn some nitrates in the soil into gaseous nitrogen or
N2O oxide, but the fixed nitrogen may circulate several times between living and
soil before returning the nitrogen back to the atmosphere
.

Fig(2): Nitrogen Cycle


Some human activities impede the nitrogen cycle. For example, the industry takes
large amounts of nitrogen to produce fertilizers. Fertilizers provide many
benefits, but excess quantities are swept from farmland to waterways,
contaminated with that water. In addition to this, the combustion of gasoline and
some other fuels produces nitrogen compounds that contribute to plant pollution.

5
The nitrogen cycle is considered one of the most important because the nitrogen
is fed by the plant, which is considered the beginning of the food
chain.

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