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The biogeochemical cycle of phosphorus
travels abundantly through the hydrosphere and lithosphere. Trace amounts of gaseous phosphorus is ever found in the atmosphere.
Very small amounts of phosphorus in the atmosphere are attached to dust particles and in an environment under very high pressure
and temperature. It is also sometimes found in very minute amounts as phosphoric acid (H3 PO4). Phosphorus is another nutrient
required by living organisms. It makes up bone and shell density, brings energy to the cells
and stores it there during ATP and ADP, and plays a significant part in the structure of
DNA. Phosphorous is another component, along with nitrogen, in fertilizers
and commonly found in detergents. In terms of the phosphorus cycle, phosphorus
is only present as phosphate (PO4).
Phosphorus is located most abundantly in rocks naturally. The
natural process of weathering causes phosphate in the rocks to be washed down into the soil,
where it works as a fertilizer. The very lengthy process of weathering takes less time now, with the worsening problems of
acid rain. However, the process of extracting phosphate still takes a longer time then it can is replenished. Long extensive
root systems in plants uptake the nutrients, which are a viable source of energy
for cells. The process continues when herbivore and omnivore animals consume plants
and then, they themselves are consumed by other omnivores and carnivores. Phosphorus is continually recycled back into the
soil through the decomposition of dead plants and animals, and their wastes. The nutrients in this cycle can become reabsorbed by rocks or simply continued again through plant uptake.
This cycle continues as such. To put this into perspective, 80% of the phosphorus in water was once that which was found in
urine. At any point in this cycle nutrients can flow into the hydrosphere, where the cycle continues at another level.
In the hydrosphere, dissolved phosphate undergoes
the same process as on the lithosphere. Underwater plants take in the phosphate
they need to survive, and it is hereby cycled through the underwater food chain of fish.
Sea birds continually eat some fish, containing phosphate, and bring those nutrients
back onto the land through their wastes called guano. Back in the ocean, any phosphate
that isn’t absorbed by plants and that in the bodies of dead and decaying animals all settle to the bottom. Disturbances
such as movement by tectonic plates and fish can bring the molecules back to the surface where they can be absorbed by plants.
Otherwise, time and gravity compresses it down into sedimentary rock. Very rare,
catastrophic occurrences such as a volcanic formation or decrease of sea level could possibly bring this phosphate to the
surface, but most likely, it is lost forever.
The state of New Jersey
was once ocean floor. When the sea level decreased, it exposed a lot of the sea floor, which was sedimentary rock. This sedimentary
rock is a plentiful source of phosphate. As in Florida, the mining of phosphate
can be profitable, where it is sold for use in agriculture as a nutrient rich fertilizer and as a component in detergent.
In conclusion, the phosphorus cycle is not a cycle at all. Phosphorous cycles continually through the hydrosphere and lithosphere,
but in the end too much is lost buried deep beneath the sea.
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