PHOSPHORUS Definition. Process.

Causes and

CYCLE
Effects. Solutions. Miscellaneous.
 PHOSPHORUS: Definition. Role and
Importance.

THE 13 ELEMENT
TH Terminology.

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WHAT IS PHOSPHORUS?
Phosphorus is a chemical element found on Earth in numerous
compound forms, such as the phosphate ion (PO43-), located in
water, soil and sediments. The quantities of phosphorus in soil
are generally small, and this often limits plant growth. That is
why people often apply phosphate fertilizers on farmland.
Animals absorb phosphates by eating plants or plant-eating
animals.

Hennig Brand discovered phosphorus in 1669 by extracting it

from buckets of urine.

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ROLE OF PHOSPHORUS
Did you know that most plants are only about 0.2% P by weight,
but that small amount is critically important. Phosphorus is an
essential component of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is
involved in most biochemical processes in plants and enables
them to extract nutrients from the soil.

Phosphorus also displays a critical role in cell development and

DNA formation.

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TERMINOLOGY
Erosion - The process by which the surface of the earth is worn
away by the action of water, glaciers, winds, waves, etc.

Eutrophication - The enrichment of an ecosystem with chemical

nutrients, typically compounds containing nitrogen,
phosphorus, or both. Eutrophication can be a natural process in
lakes, occurring as they age through geological time.

Phosphate Mining - To mine phosphate rocks and minerals from

15-50 feet below the surface.

Leaching - Drain away from soil, ash, or similar material by the

action of percolating liquid, especially rainwater.
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TERMINOLOGY
Inorganic Phosphorus - Phosphorus that may be measured in
the blood as phosphate ions. Its increased concentration may
indicate bone, kidney, or glandular disease.

Organic Phosphorus - Comes primarily from mineral sources,

like rock dust.

Uptake - The action of taking up or making use of something

that is available.

Absorption of phosphorus - Phosphate is absorbed through the

phosphate cycle that cycles through sediments through
organisms back to soil and then into waterways which then
embed them into the sediments.
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PHOSPHORUS Flow and Process.

CYCLE
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PHOSPHORUS CYCLE

The phosphorus cycle, is the circulation of phosphorous among

the rocks, soils, water, and plants and animals of the earth.
Human beings and all other organisms must have phosphorus to
live. In nature, most phosphorus occurs in phosphate rock,
which contains phosphate ions combined with calcium,
magnesium, chlorine, and fluorine.

It is also the biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus between the

living and nonliving parts of Earth.

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PHOSPHORUS CYCLE: WHY
IS IT DIFFERENT?
• Phosphorus does not have a gaseous phase on the Earth.
• It exists in the atmosphere only as part of small particles of
dust. In addition, phosphorus tends to form compounds that
are relatively insoluble in water and therefore are not readily
eroded as part of the hydrologic cycle. Phosphorus occurs
commonly in its oxidized state as phosphate.
• Therefore, no involvement of atmosphere in this cycle.

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STEPS OF THE PHOSPHORUS CYCLE

1. Phosphorus starts out in rocks and then phosphates are

washed off the rocks over a period of time (weathering and rain)
and are then distributed into soil and water.

2. Plants then take up phosphate from the soil and animals may
consume these plants. If this happens the phosphate becomes
imbedded into organic molecules (DNA). Then plants/animals
may die and when the plant/animal decays then the phosphate
is returned to the soil.

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STEPS OF THE PHOSPHORUS CYCLE

3. Organic forms of phosphate can be made accessible to plants

by bacteria which breaks down the organic matter. When this
happens the phosphate is changed to an inorganic form of
phosphorus (this is known as mineralization).

4. Once the phosphorus is in the soil it can be transferred to

waterways and then oceans. After this phosphorus can be
integrated into sediments.

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STEP Uplifting of
S OF rocks
Phosphates
THE in organic
compounds
PHO Weathering Phosphates
of rock in rock
SPH
ORU Runoff

S
Detritus
CYC Phosphates Phosphates in
LE in solution soil (inorganic)

Decomposition
Detritivores
Rock Precipitated (solid)
in soil
phosphates
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PHOSPHORUS CYCLE IN PLANTS

1. Crop Uptake – is the goal of applying phosphorus fertilizer or

manure to the soil. One goal with field crop management is to
optimize crop uptake of available phosphorus.
2. Weathering and Precipitation - Soils naturally contain P-rich
minerals, which are weathered over long periods of time and
slowly made available to plants. Phosphorus can become
unavailable through precipitation, which happens if plant
available inorganic P reacts with dissolved iron, aluminum,
manganese (in acid soils), or calcium (in alkaline soils) to form
phosphate minerals.

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PHOSPHORUS CYCLE IN PLANTS
3. Mineralization and Immobilization - Mineralization is the
microbial conversion of organic P to H2PO4- or HPO42-, forms of
plant available P known as orthophosphates. Immobilization
occurs when these plant available P forms are consumed by
microbes, turning the P into organic P forms that are not
available to plants. The microbial P will become available over
time as the microbes die.
• Maintaining soil organic matter levels is important in P
management. Mineralization of organic matter results in the
slow release of P to the soil solution during the growing
season, making it available for plant uptake. This process
reduces the need for fertilizer applications and the risk of
runoff and leaching that may result from additional P.
• Soil temperatures between 65 and 105°F favor P
mineralization.
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PHOSPHORUS CYCLE IN PLANTS
4. Adsorption and Desorption - Adsorption is the chemical
binding of plant available P to soil particles, which makes it
unavailable to plants. Desorption is the release of adsorbed P
from its bound state into the soil solution.
• Adsorption occurs quickly whereas desorption is usually a
slow process.
• Adsorption differs from precipitation: adsorption is reversible
chemical binding of P to soil particles while precipitation
involves a more permanent change in the chemical properties
of the P as it is removed from the soil solution.
• Phosphorus is in its most plant available form when the pH is
between 6 and 7. At higher pH, P can precipitate with Ca. At
lower pH, P tends to be sorbed to Fe and Al compounds in the
soil.
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PHOSPHORUS CYCLE IN PLANTS
• Every soil has a maximum amount of P that it can adsorb.
Phosphorus losses to the environment through runoff and/or
leaching increase with P saturation level.
• Precise fertilizer placement can decrease P adsorption effects
by minimizing P contact with soil and concentrating P into a
smaller area. Band application of fertilizer is a common
example of this.

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PHOSPHORUS CYCLE IN PLANTS
5. Runoff - Runoff is a major cause of P loss from farms. Water
carries away particulate (soil-bound) P in eroded sediment, as
well as dissolved P from applied manure and fertilizers. Erosion
control practices decrease P losses by slowing water flow over
the soil surface and increasing infiltration.

6. Leaching - Leaching is the removal of dissolved P from soil by

vertical water movement. Leaching is a concern in relatively high
P soils (near or at P saturation), especially where preferential
flow or direct connections with tile drains exist.

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PHOSPHORUS: THE LIMITING NUTRIENT

• Liebig's Law of Minimum - formulated by Justin

Liebig in 1840
• The growth of a plant is dependent on the
amount of foodstuff that is presented to it in
minimum quantity.
• As applied to algae, it means that algal growth
will be limited by the nutrient that is least
available. Of all the nutrients, only phosphorus is
not readily available from the atmosphere or the
natural water supply. For this reason,
phosphorus is deemed the limiting nutrient in
lakes. The amount of phosphorus controls the
quantity of algal growth and therefore the
productivity of lakes.
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HUMAN INFLUENCE IN THE CYCLE

The phosphorus cycle took millions of years to

make and form into a flawless system, that is until
humans came around. All living things require
phosphorus for energy storage. With human
urbanizationand agriculture, the cycle soon became
short-circuited in some aspects

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HUMAN INFLUENCE IN THE CYCLE

The cycle is mainly affected by the production and

use of fertilizers made from phosphorus and animal
manure that contains phosphorus.
• The soil cannot absorb all the fertilizer, so it
eventually gets washed away with other surface
runoff.
• This results in increased amounts of
phosphorus as pollutants in bodies of water that
results in anthropogenic eutrophication.

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HUMAN INFLUENCE IN THE CYCLE

ISSUE: In the event of over fertilization, excess

phosphate seeps into the ground and soil. This
happens through leaching and water runoff.
Eventually, it reaches waterways like lakes and
estuaries. As a result, the fish are dying and the
color of water is changing, too.

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HUMAN IMPACTS

• Mining large quantities of phosphate rock

depletes resources.
• Cause of artificial eutrophication is
run-off from mines. Mining in areas
where rock is rich in phosphorus
minerals can create dust that is blown
by wind into nearby water systems.

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HUMAN INFLUENCE IN THE CYCLE

• Reducing available phosphate in tropical forests

through slash-and-burn agriculture depletes it.
• Cutting and burning of tropical rain forests
affects the phosphorus cycle. As the
forest is cut and/or burned, nutrients
originally stored in plants and rocks are
quickly washed away by heavy rains,
causing the land to become
unproductive.

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HUMAN INFLUENCE IN THE CYCLE

• Adding excessive phosphate to aquatic

ecosystems depletes dissolved oxygen and
disrupts aquatic ecosystems.
a. runoff from animal wastes
b. runoff of commercial inorganic fertilizers from
cropland
c. discharge of municipal sewage (municipal and
industrial wastewaters, septic tank seepage,
agricultural runoff)

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SOLUTIONS
Solution One Solution Two

Instead of using phosphorus Phosphorus found in foods, such

fertilizers, people can create their as bananas, can be recycled and
own fertilizers using parts of returned to fertilizer, instead of
plants and animal waste, which ending up in waterways and
will improve marine ecosystems landfills. As a result, the
by preventing phosphorus from phosphorus will not affect marine
seeping into water systems. ecosystems.

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SOLUTIONS
Solution Three Solution Four

Since phosphorus is such an Lead in old, rusty pipes may add

important component of fertilizer, phosphorus and other toxic
finding alternate sources to materials into water, making the
replace phosphorus in fertilizer water unsafe. Replacing these
would solve the problem of pipes or taking better care of the
phosphorus seeping into the lakes pipes will result in the elimination
and would preserve phosphorus of phosphorus entering water.
for other uses.

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SOLUTIONS
Solution Five

Erosion washes away phosphorus

found in fertilizer in the soil and
ends up in water supplies. If
farmers use farming techniques
that do not have such a large
impact on the environment, then
the phosphorus will not be
washed into the water.

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 ENVIRONMENTAL
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