A presentation on biogeochemistry and its history. It also includes the basic biogeochemical cycle of the ocean and its diagram. The importance of the cycle.

1. A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE
MD. Ibrahim
ID:19902001

2. WHAT WE ARE GOING TO
DISCUSS
Introduction of
Biogeochemistry
Historical Timeline of
Biogeochemistry
Marine Biogeochemistry
and its Importance
Biogeochemical Cycle
and Its types
Summary

3. WHAT IS
BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
Biogeochemistry is the study of the cycles of crucial
chemical elements, and their interactions with other
substances and organisms as they move through Earth’s
atmosphere, hydrosphere (water and ice), biosphere (life),
and lithosphere (rock).
The field of biogeochemistry deals with the effect of
biological organisms on the chemistry of the Earth.
The field focuses especially on the diverse and interlinked
chemical cycles that are either driven by or have an impact
on biological activity, in particular carbon, nitrogen, sulfur,
and phosphorus.

4. THE WORD BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
‘Bio’ refers to biology or all
of the living things on earth,
which includes plants,
animals and microbes.
‘Geo’ refers to geology or
the earth’s physical
properties, its history and
the processes that shape it.
‘Chemistry’ refers to atoms
and molecules and how they
interact with each other.

5. THE INTERDISCIPLINARY FIELD OF BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
5

6. IMPORTANCE OF
UNDERSTANDING BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
• In a sense, chemicals are like currency, and
biogeochemistry is the study of the nearly limitless
“transactions” that drive the entire planetary system,
including life on Earth.
• Understanding biogeochemistry provides crucial
insights into how life formed, has evolved, is
sustained, and is threatened on our planet, and how
the various chemical cycles govern and regulate
Earth’s climate and environment.

7. IMPORTANCE OF
UNDERSTANDING BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
• Find ways to adapt to climate change and its
impacts.
• Enhance agriculture and food production.
• Manage fisheries, mitigate pollution.
• Develop alternative and renewable energy.
• Prevent diseases and create new drugs.
• Spur innovations that can drive economic prosperity
and improve our quality of life.

8. HISTORICAL TIMELINE
N.T. de Saussure
-pioneers in the study of
photosynthesis
-Mechanism of plant
growth
Justus Von Liebig
-Fertilizer Theory
Theodor Schwann
-Microbes are involved
in decomposition
-The invention of the term
metabolism
Cagniard-Latour
-Microorganisms
involved in fermentation
Martinus Beijerinck
-Considered one of the founders
of virology and Environmental
microbiology.
V.M. Goldschmidt
-The founder of modern
geochemistry and crystal
chemistry
Vladimir Vernadsky
-Improved biosphere concept:
"unity of the living matter and
the outer part of the globe"
-Study of mineral formation
linked to biota
-Coined the term
"biogeochemistry' 1926
1600-1700
1800-1850 1900-1950
1700-1800 1850-1900
Antoine Lavoisier
-CO2 used by plants and CO2
produced by plant remains.
-Pioneer of stoichiometry
-Discovered carbon and silicon
Vasily Dokuchaev
-Father of modern soil science
-Soil genesis (formation)
Eduard Suess
-Coined the term “biosphere”
SergeiWinogradsky
-Discovered the first known form
of lithotrophy.-Chemosynthesis –
his most noted discovery
8
Jan Baptist Van Helmont
-Gases in plant growth
-Mass gain experiments with
trees.
-Introduce the word "gas"

9. MARINE BIOGEOCHEMISTRY

10. WHAT IS
MARINE BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
• Marine biogeochemistry is the study of the physical,
biological, geological and chemical processes that distribute
and transform nutrients and other chemical species in the
marine environment.
• Observations of physical/biological/ecological coupling give
insight into how these processes contribute to global
biogeochemical cycles

11. SCOPE OF THE STUDY OF MARINE BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
• Chemical, biological and physical controls on primary production in the
surface ocean.
• Studies the distribution of chemicals that are of crucial importance for
primary producers, often called with the general term “nutrients”.
• Vertical export of materials into the ocean's interior and processes in the
'twilight zone’.
• Biogeochemical cycles and their response to global environmental changes .
• Dynamics of marine planktonic and microbial communities .
• Development of photosynthetic microbes for algal biofuel and other
biotechnologies.

12. IMPORTANCE OF
UNDERSTANDING MARINE BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
Understanding Marine Biogeochemistry helps to find out oceans’
role:
• in global carbon
• in nutrient and other chemical cycles
• in anthropogenic effects on the Ocean’s functions and ecosystem
services
• as a sponge for the fossil fuel carbon dioxide and other greenhouse
gases.

13. INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM
U.S. Global Change
Research Program
(USGCRP)
A major research program
funded by the national
science foundation to
determine how global
change affects the marine
ecosystem and what the
feedbacks to the physical
climate system will be; and
Global Carbon
Program (GCP):
A study funded by the
national oceanic and
atmospheric administration
to improve scientists' ability
to predict the fate of human-
derived carbon dioxide and
future concentrations of
atmospheric carbon dioxide.
A joint project to design a
carbon cycle research
program; funded by the
department of energy; the
national aeronautic and space
administration, the national
oceanic and atmospheric
administration, national
science foundation, and U.S.
Geological survey;
Global Ocean
Ecosystems Dynamics
(GLOBEC)
The international
yearlong expedition to
the central arctic, to
investigate the
importance of ice algae
for the food web in the
high arctic using algae-
derived biomarkers.
MOSAiC

14. BIOGEOCHEMICAL
CYCLE

15. WHAT IS
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE
Biogeochemical cycles mainly refer to the
movement of nutrients and other elements
between biotic and abiotic factors.
The term biogeochemical is derived from
• “Bio” meaning biosphere,
• “Geo” meaning the geological components,
• “Chemical” meaning the elements that move
through a cycle.

16. PARTS OF
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES
• Reservoirs - Where the major source of the element is situated.
Biogeochemical reservoirs are usually slow-moving and abiotic,
they store chemicals for long periods at a time (e.g. fossil fuels
containing carbon)
• Sources - The organism or processes which return the elements to
the reservoir.
• Sinks - The largest site of nutrient movement from the non-living to
the living parts of the ecosystem.

17. TYPES OF
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES
There are two main types of biogeochemical cycles, namely gaseous
cycles and sedimentary cycles:
• Gaseous cycles - examples are the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and water cycles.
The reservoirs of these cycles are the atmosphere or hydrosphere.
• Sedimentary cycles - examples are the phosphorus and sulphur cycles. The
reservoir of these cycles is in the lithosphere.

18. WATER CYCLE
• The water from the different water bodies
evaporates, cools, condenses and falls back to the
earth as rain.
• This cycle is responsible for maintaining weather
conditions.
• The water in its various forms interacts with the
surroundings and changes the temperature and
pressure of the atmosphere.

19. CARBON CYCLE
• Carbon present in the atmosphere is absorbed by plants for
photosynthesis.
• These plants are then consumed by animals and carbon gets
bioaccumulated into their bodies.
• These animals and plants eventually die, and upon
decomposing, carbon is released back into the atmosphere.
• Some of the carbon that is not released back into the atmosphere
eventually become fossil fuels.
• These fossil fuels are then used for man-made activities, which
pump more carbon back into the atmosphere.

20. NITROGEN CYCLE
• It is the biogeochemical cycle by which nitrogen is converted
into several forms and it gets circulated through the
atmosphere and various ecosystems such as terrestrial and
marine ecosystems.
• The bacteria present in the roots of the plants convert this
nitrogen gas into a usable compound called ammonia.
• Ammonia is also supplied to plants in the form of fertilizers.
This ammonia is converted into nitrites and nitrates.
• The denitrifying bacteria reduce the nitrates into nitrogen and
return it into the atmosphere.

21. OXYGEN CYCLE
• This biogeochemical cycle moves through the
atmosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere.
• Oxygen is an abundant element on our Earth. It is found
in the elemental form in the atmosphere to the extent of
21%.
• Oxygen is released by the plants during photosynthesis.
Humans and other animals inhale the oxygen exhale
carbon dioxide which is again taken up by the plants.
They utilise this carbon dioxide in photosynthesis to
produce oxygen, and the cycle continues.

22. PHOSPHOROUS CYCLE
• In this biogeochemical cycle, phosphorus moves
through the hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere.
• Phosphorus is extracted by the weathering of rocks.
Due to rains and erosion phosphorus is washed away
in the soil and water bodies.
• Plants and animals obtain this phosphorus through the
soil and water and grow. Microorganisms also require
phosphorus for their growth.
• When the plants and animals die they decompose, and
the stored phosphorus is returned to the soil and water
bodies which is again consumed by plants and animals
and the cycle continues.

23. SULPHUR CYCLE
• This biogeochemical cycle moves through the rocks,
water bodies and living systems.
• Sulphur is released into the atmosphere by the
weathering of rocks and is converted into sulphates.
• These sulphates are taken up by the microorganisms
and plants and converted into organic forms. Organic
sulphur is consumed by animals through food.
• When the animals die and decompose, sulphur is
returned to the soil, which is again obtained by the
plants and microbes, and the cycle continues.

24. IMPORTANCE OF
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES
Biogeochemical cycles allow all parts of the ecosystem to thrive at the
same time by offering a way of recycling nutrients between the living
and non-living parts of the Earth.
These non-living parts include the atmosphere (air), lithosphere (soil),
and hydrosphere (water).
If one section of these biogeochemical processes stopped functioning,
the whole ecosystem would collapse as the nutrients would become
trapped in one place.

25. SUMMARY
Biogeochemistry is a big word. Biogeochemistry
also covers an enormous field of study. It is a
systems science – a way of looking at how the
Earth’s systems (water, atmosphere, land and
living things) interact with each other.
One important aspect of biogeochemistry is the
study of chemical cycles, like nitrogen and
phosphorus, and the way they interact with living
things and the environment.

26. THANK YOU