Biogeochemical

Cycles

WEEK 2, 3
Course Code: COE113
Course Description: Environmental Science
and Engineering

Course Intended Learning Outcomes:

✓ Know the existing laws, rules, and regulations
of the government on environmental issues.
✓ Identify, plan, and select appropriate design
treatment schemes for waste disposal.
✓ Understand the importance of waste
management and its relevance to the
engineering profession.
Course Code: COE113
Course Description: Environmental Science
and Engineering

Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:
✓ Understand biogeochemical cycle;
✓ Identify the building blocks of life ; and
✓ Differentiate biological, geological, and chemical
processes.
Biogeochemical Cycles
Water
Nitrogen
Carbon Dioxide
Phosphorus
Sulfur
What is Biogeochemical Cycle :
▪ BIO=“life”.
▪ GEO=“earth”
▪ CHEMICAL=“elements – C,O,N,P,S

A cycling of nutrients (water, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus,

Sulphur) from the abiotic components of ecosystem (water, air, soil,
rock) through the biotic components (plants, animals, fungi, bacteria).
Biogeochemical Cycle :
▪ chemical elements are required by life from the living and
nonliving parts of the environment.
▪ These elements cycle in either a gas cycle or a sedimentary
cycle
▪ In a gas cycle elements move through the atmosphere.
▪ Main reservoirs are the atmosphere and the ocean.
▪ Sedimentary cycle elements move from land to water to
sediment.
Carbon Cycle
Biogeochemical cycle by which carbon compounds
are interconverted in the environment, involving the
incorporation of carbon dioxide into living tissue by
photosynthesis and its return to the atmosphere
through respiration, the decay of dead organisms,
and the burning of fossil fuels.
Carbon Cycle
4 main processes in the carbon cycle
1. Photosynthesis
2. Decomposition
3. Respiration
4. Combustion
VIDEO LINK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNLUzqW8IuA
Process of Carbon Cycle
Photosynthesis
Plants pull in carbon dioxide out of the air through photosynthesis.
Even though carbon dioxide makes up less than 1% of the atmosphere,
it plays a major role for living things.

Decomposition
The process of breaking down plants. Over vast periods of time, layers
of sediment build on each other. Because of the pressure and heat
from within the Earth’s crust, this generates fossil fuels.
Process of Carbon Cycle
Respiration
The plants use solar energy to break apart that same carbon dioxide in
the air. Through photosynthesis, it uses that same carbon for plant
material in turn releasing oxygen again.

Combustion
Involves burning to produce energy. But a by-product of combustion is
that it releases carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. And too
much CO2 increases the greenhouse effect.
Nitrogen Cycle
A continuous series of natural
processes by which nitrogen
passes successively from air to soil
to organisms and back to air or soil
involving principally nitrogen
fixation, nitrification, decay, and
denitrification.
VIDEO LINK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5EOZenSSB8
Nitrogen Cycle Process
Nitrogen fixing
The conversion of free nitrogen of atmosphere into the biologically
acceptable form or nitrogenous compounds.

Ammonification
It is the process of releasing ammonia by certain microorganisms
utilizing organic compounds derived from the dead organic remains of
plants and animals and excrete of animals.
Nitrogen Cycle Process
Nitrification
Process of enzymatic oxidation of ammonia to nitrate by certain
microorganisms in soil and oceans.

Denitrification
The reduction of nitrates back into the largely inert nitrogen gas (N2).
Oxygen Cycle
(Photosynthesis)
• Circulation of oxygen in
various forms through
nature.
• Free in the air and
dissolved in water, oxygen
is second only to nitrogen
in abundance among
combined elements in the
atmosphere.
VIDEO LINK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGWJ9GgDNhM
Sources of Oxygen
▪ Photosynthesis and respiration
▪ Photo disassociation of H2O vapor
▪ CO2 and O2 circulates freely throughout the biosphere.
▪ Some CO2 combines with Ca to form carbonates.
▪ O2 combines with nitrogen compounds to form nitrates.
▪ O2 combines with iron compounds to form ferric oxides.
▪ O2 in the troposphere is reduced to O3 (ozone).
▪ Ground level O3 (ozone) is a pollutant which damages lungs.
Phosphorus (P) Cycle
• Biogeochemical cycle that describes the
movement of phosphorus through the
lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.
•Phosphorus moves in a cycle through rocks,
water, soil and sediments and organisms.
VIDEO LINK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzo-uFS7LUA
Process of Phosphorus (P) Cycle
• Over time, rain and weathering cause rocks to release phosphate ions
and other minerals. This inorganic phosphate is then distributed in soils
and water.
• Plants take up inorganic phosphate from the soil. The plants may then be
consumed by animals. Once in the plant or animal, the phosphate is
incorporated into organic molecules such as DNA. When the plant or
animal dies, it decays, and the organic phosphate is returned to the soil.
• Within the soil, organic forms of phosphate can be made available to
plants by bacteria that break down organic matter to inorganic forms of
phosphorus. This process is known as mineralisation.
• Phosphorus in soil can end up in waterways and eventually in oceans.
Once there, it can be incorporated into sediments over time.
Summary
▪ The building blocks of life :Water ,Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide,
Phosphorus, Sulfur
▪ Continually cycle through Earth's systems, the atmosphere,
hydrosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere, on time scales that
range from a few days to millions of years.
▪ These cycles are called biogeochemical cycles, because they
include a variety of biological, geological, and chemical
processes.
 ACTIVITY
An ecological footprint is the determination of the biologically productive area
required to provide an individual’s resource supplies and absorb the wastes their
activities produce.

Engineers have a role to play in mitigating current threats and eliminating future
insults with designs that improves the quality of life for Earth’s population without
the associated historical adverse environmental impacts. How do you see your role
as a global citizen and as a future professional?
 REFERENCES
Davis, Mackenzie L. and Susan J. Masten. (2004). Principles of Environmental Engineering and
Science. McGraw-Hill.
Guzmar, Ruth and Roger Guzmar. (2000). Environmental Education for Sustainable Development.
Wisdom Advocate Publishing.

Kiely, Gerard. (1997). Environmental Engineering. McGraw-Hill.

Ortolano, Leonard. (1997). Environmental Regulation and Impact Assessment. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Vesilind, P. et al. (2010). Introduction to Environmental Engineering.
Weiner, R and Matthews, R. (2003). Environmental Engineering (Fourth Edition)
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