Biogeochemical Cycle - Important Cycles

Important Cycles

The most well-known and important biogeochemical cycles, for example, include

• the carbon cycle,
• the nitrogen cycle,
• the oxygen cycle,
• the phosphorus cycle,
• the sulfur cycle,
• the water cycle, and
• the rock cycle.

There are many biogeochemical cycles that are currently being studied for the first time as climate change and human impacts are drastically changing the speed, intensity, and balance of these relatively unknown cycles. These newly studied biogeochemical cycles include

• the mercury cycle, and
• the human-caused cycle of atrazine, which may affect certain species.

Biogeochemical cycles always involve hot equilibrium states: a balance in the cycling of the element between compartments. However, overall balance may involve compartments distributed on a global scale.

As biogeochemical cycles describe the movements of substances on the entire globe, the study of these is inherently multidiciplinary. The carbon cycle may be related to research in ecology and atmospheric sciences. Biochemical dynamics would also be related to the fields of geology and pedology (soil study).