Reporter:

Mr. B-Jay G. Samson

 A natural process in which elements are
continuously cycled in various forms between
different compartments of the environment
(e.g., air, water, soil, organisms).
 This include the iron, carbon, nitrogen,
oxygen, sulfur, and phosphorus cycles
(nutrient cycles) and the water cycle.
 Our planet is constantly changing. Natural cycles
balance and regulate Earth and its atmosphere.
Human activities can cause changes to these
natural cycles.
 Life on Earth is well adapted to our planet’s cycles.
In our solar system, Earth is the only planet with air
to breathe, liquid water to drink, and temperatures
that are just right for life as we know it. Because
our existence depends on our planet and its
climate, we need to understand how what we do
affects the Earth.
 Scientists try to figure out how our planet
works by studying Earth’s cycles. Changes to
Earth’s cycles can cause changes in the
climates of our planet. The more we know
about these cycles, the more we will
understand how humans are affecting them
and how that might change the planet.
 Here are the following cycles and learn more
about how they work!

 Iron Cycle
 Carbon Cycle

 Nitrogen Cycle

 Oxygen Cycle
 Phosphorus Cycle

 Sulfur Cycle
 From being a crucial building block of steel to nourishing
plants and helping carry oxygen in your blood — iron is
always busy helping sustain life on Earth.

 Iron is a brittle, hard substance, classified as a metal

in Group 8 on the Periodic Table of the Elements. The most
abundant of all metals, its pure form rapidly corrodes from
exposure to moist air and high temperatures.

 Iron is also the fourth most common element in Earth's

crust by weight and much of Earth's core is thought to be
composed of iron.
 Besides being commonly found on Earth, it is abundant in
the sun and stars, according to the Los Alamos National
Laboratory.

 Iron is crucial to the survival of living organisms, according

to Jefferson Lab.

 In plants, it plays a role in the production of chlorophyll.

 In animals, it is a component of hemoglobin — a protein in
blood that carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues in
the body.
 Ninety percent of all metal that is refined these days is iron,
according to the Royal Society of Chemistry. Most of it is
used to make steel — an alloy of iron and carbon — which
is in turn used in manufacturing and civil engineering, for
instance, to make reinforced concrete.

 Stainless steel, which contains at least 10.5 percent

chromium, is highly resistant to corrosion. It is used in
kitchen cutlery, appliances and cookware such as stainless
steel pans and skillets.
 The addition of other elements can provide steel with other
useful qualities. For instance, nickel increases its durability
and makes it more resistant to heat and acids; manganese
makes it more durable, whereas tungsten helps it maintain
hardness at high temperatures, according to Jefferson Lab.
 Atomic number (number of protons in the
nucleus): 26
 Atomic symbol (on the Periodic Table of
Elements): Fe
 Atomic weight (average mass of the atom):
55.845
 Density: 7.874 grams per cubic centimeter
 Phase at room temperature: Solid
 Melting point: 2,800.4 degrees Fahrenheit (1,538 degrees Celsius)
 Boiling point: 5,181.8 F (2,861 C)
 Number of isotopes (atoms of the same element with a different
number of neutrons): (include how many are stable isotopes): 33
Stable isotopes: 4
 Most common isotopes: Iron-56 (natural abundance: 91.754
percent)
Iron is mostly obtained from
minerals hematite and magnetite.
In smaller degrees, it can also be
obtained from the minerals
taconite, limonite and siderite,
according to Jefferson Lab.
Iron deficiency, the most common nutritional
deficiency, can cause anemia and fatigue that
affects the ability to perform physical work in
adults. It can also impair memory and other mental
function in teens, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. Women who have
iron deficiency while pregnant are at an increased
risk of having small and early babies, the CDC
warns.
There are two types of dietary iron: heme iron and non-heme
iron. Heme iron — which is the more readily absorbed type of
iron — is found in meat, fish and poultry, whereas non-heme
iron — which is also absorbed but to a lesser extent than heme
iron — is found in both plant foods (such as spinach, kale and
broccoli) and meat, according to the American Red Cross.
People absorb up to 30 percent of heme iron, compared with 2
to 10 percent of non-heme iron, the ARC reports, adding that
foods rich in vitamin C such as tomatoes or citrus fruits can
help absorb people absorb non-heme iron.
The biogeochemical iron cycle:

 Iron circulates through the atmosphere, lithosphere, and

oceans. Labeled arrows show the flux between iron reservoirs,
with flux values in Tg of iron per year where literature values
are available.

 Iron in the ocean cycles between plankton, aggregated

particulates (non-bioavailable iron), and dissolved (free and
ligand-complexed bioavailable iron), and is deposited into
sediments through burial.
 Hydrothermal vents release ferrous iron to the Ocean in addition
to oceanic iron inputs from sediments, glaciers, icebergs, rivers,
and atmospheric dust. Iron reaches the atmosphere through
stochastic volcanism, aeolian wind, and to a lesser extent through
combustion by humans.

 In the Anthropocene, iron is removed from the crust through

mining with a portion re deposited in slag, landfills, and other
waste repositories. nutrient in High-Nutrient, Low-Chlorophyll
(HNLC) regions of the ocean.

 A critical component of the iron cycle is aeolian dust, which is

transported from the Earth's land via the atmosphere to the ocean.
 Iron exists in a range of oxidation states from -2 to +7; however, on
Earth it is predominantly in its +2 or +3 redox state. The cycling of
iron between its +2 and +3 oxidation states is referred to as the iron
cycle. This process can be entirely abiotic or facilitated by
microorganisms. Some examples of this include the rusting of iron-
bearing metals (in this case, Fe2+ is abiotically oxidized to Fe3+) by
oxygen, and the abiotic reduction of Fe3+ to Fe2+ by iron-sulfide
minerals or the biological cycling of Fe2+-oxidizing microbes.

 Iron is an essential micro-nutrient for almost every life form, and is a

primary redox-active metal on Earth. Due to the high reactivity of
Fe2+ with oxygen and low solubility of Fe3+, iron is a limiting nutrient
in most regions of the world. Thus, the iron cycle is intrinsically linked
to the cycling of other biologically-important elements.
 The ocean is a critical component of the Earth's climate system, and
the iron cycle plays a key role in ocean primary productivity and
marine ecosystem function. The largest supply of iron to the oceans is
from rivers, where it is suspended as sediment. Other major sources of
iron to the ocean include glacial particulates, atmospheric dust
transport, and hydrothermal vents.

 Iron supply is an important factor affecting growth of phytoplankton,

the base of marine food web. Uptake of iron by phytoplankton leads to
lowest iron concentrations in surface seawater. Remineralization of
sinking phytoplankton by zooplankton and bacteria. recycles iron and
causes higher deep water iron concentrations.

 Therefore, upwelling zones contain more iron than other areas of the
surface ocean.
 The iron cycle is an important component of the terrestrial
ecosystems. The ferrous form of iron, Fe2+, is dominant in the Earth's
mantle, core, or deep crust. The ferric form, Fe3+, is more stable in
the presence of oxygen gas.

 Dust is a key component in the Earth's iron cycle. Chemical and

biological weathering break down iron-bearing minerals, releasing the
nutrient into the atmosphere.

 Volcanic eruptions are also a key contributor to the terrestrial iron

cycle, releasing iron-rich dust into the atmosphere in either a large
burst or in smaller spurts over time. The atmospheric transport of
iron-rich dust can impact the ocean concentrations.
 On the early Earth, when atmospheric oxygen levels were 0.001% of
those present today, dissolved Fe2+ was thought to have been a lot
more abundant in the oceans, and thus more bioavailable to microbial
life in that era.

 At this time, before the onset of oxygenic photosynthesis, primary

production may have been dominated by photoheterotrophs, which
would obtain energy from sunlight, and use the electrons from Fe2+
to fix carbon.