Biogeochemical cycles sulfur

B. H. SvENSSON and R. Soderlund (eds.). Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur-Global Biogeochemical Cycles, SCOPE Report, No. 7, Sweden 1976, 170 pp. also SCOPE Report No. 10, Wiley, New York, 1977, 220 pp, and SCOPE Newsletter 47, Jan. 1995, pp. 1-4. 

Feedbacks may be affected directly by atmospheric CO2, as in the case of possible CO2 fertilization of terrestrial production, or indirectly through the effects of atmospheric CO2 on climate. Furthermore, feedbacks between the carbon cycle and other anthropogenically altered biogeochemical cycles (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur) may affect atmospheric CO2. If the creation or alteration of feedbacks have strong effects on the magnitudes of carbon cycle fluxes, then projections, made without consideration of these feedbacks and their potential for changing carbon cycle processes, will produce incorrect estimates of future concentrations of atmospheric CO2. 

It is often taken for granted that the oxygen content of the air is nearly constant at ca. 20% of the atmospheric volume, that most of the liquid water on the planet is aerobic (i.e. contains O2), and that most water has pH values relatively close to neutral" (close to 7). However, these circumstances are not mere coincidences but are in fact consequences of the interaction of key global biogeochemical cycles. For instance, the pH of rainwater is often determined by the relative amounts of ammonia and sulfuric acid cycled through the atmosphere, a clear example of interaction between the nitrogen and sulfur cycles. 

Just as in the case for the hydrosphere, the atmosphere participates in all of the major biogeochemical cycles (except for phosphorus). In turn, the chemical composition of the atmosphere dictates its physical and optical properties, the latter being of great importance for the heat balance of Earth and its climate. Both major constituents (O2, H2O) and minor ones (CO2, sulfur, nitrogen, and other carbon compounds) are involved in mediating the amounts and characteristics of both incoming solar and outgoing infrared radiation. 

Reproduced with permission from R. J. Charlson, W. L. Chameides, and D. Kley (1985). The transformations of sulfur and nitrogen in the remote atmosphere. In "The Biogeochemical Cycling of Sulfur and Nitrogen in the Remote Atmosphere" (J. N. Galloway, R. J. Charlson, M. O. Andreae and H. Rodhe, eds), pp. 67-80, D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht.)... 

Grinenko, V. A. and Ivanov, M. V. (1983). Principal reactions of the global biogeochemical cycle of sulphur. In The Global Biogeochemical Sulfur Cycle, SCOPE 19" (M. V. Ivanov and J. R. Freney, eds). Wiley, Chichester. 

Fig. 6.5 Microbial iron and sulfur cycles that may have dominated biogeochemical cycling before the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis, aerobic respiration and possibly before the use of oxides of nitrogen.

Figure 4. A model illustrating sulfur biogeochemical cycle in forest ecosystems (Bashkin, 2002).

Box 1. Potential change of sulfur biogeochemical cycle in Thai Mangrove ecosystems due to sea level rise resulting from climate change scenarios (after Bashkin, 2003a Rummasak et al., 2002)... 

Increasing concentration of GHG in the atmosphere will lead to climate change and the most probable scenarios are related to sea level rise. According to these scenarios the mangrove ecosystems of the South East Asia and Thailand coast, in particular, will change many features, especially those connected with the biogeochemical cycle of sulfur. 

In this chapter, the biogeochemical cycling of organic matter is discussed from the perspective of its carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur content. 

Paytan A, Luz B, Kolodny Y, Neori A (2002) Biologically mediated oxygen isotope exchange between water and phosphorus. Global Biogeochem Cycles 16-13 1-7 Paytan A, Kastner M, Campbell D, Thiemens M (2004) Seawater sulfur isotope fluctuations in the Cretaceous, Science 304 1663-1665... 

Photoreactions are often complex reactions that not only control the fate of many chemicals in air and water, but often produce products with chemical, physical, and biological properties quite different from those of their parent compounds more water soluble, less volatile, and less likely to be taken up by biota. Photooxidation removes many potentially harmful chemicals from the environment, although occasionally more toxic products form in oil slicks and from pesticides (Larson et al., 1977). Biogeochemical cycling of organic sulfur compounds in marine systems involves photooxidation on a grand scale in surface waters, as well as in the troposphere (Brimblecombe and Shooter, 1986). 

Mopper, K., and D. J. Kieber. 2002. Impact of DOM photochemistry on the biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus in the sea. In Biogeochemistry of Marine Dissolved Organic Matter (D. Hansell and C. A. Carlson, Eds.), pp. 455-489 Academic Press, New York. 

Hydrogen is one of the constituents of water. It recycles as in other biogeochemical cycles. It is actively involved with the other cycles like the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, and sulfur cycle. 

A detailed description of the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and water in land ecosystems has been given in a work of... 

Any improvement of the global model of the biosphere can only be achieved by extending our knowledge of the biogeochemical cycles involved in it. The need to parameterize a unit describing sulfur fluxes in natural systems is dictated by the dependence of biotic processes on the content of sulfur in biospheric compartments. The available data on the supplies and fluxes of sulfur compounds in the atmosphere, soils, vegetation cover, and hydrosphere, enable formulation of mathematical relationships to describe the global sulfur cycle. 

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