Cycles of Matter vocabulary

Biogeochemical cycle

The continuous movement and recycling of essential chemical elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus between biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere.

Hydrologic cycle

Continuous movement of water on, above and below Earth’s surface, driven by solar energy and gravity.

Eutrophication

Process where a body of water becomes excessively enriched with nutrients (primarily phosphorus and nitrogen) leading to dense algal blooms, reduced sunlight penetration, and severe oxygen depletion.

Limiting nutrient

Essential nutrient that is in shortest supply relative to an organism’s needed thereby restricting growth, reproduction, and population size.

Nitrogen fixation

natural process where specialized bacteria and archaea convert into Atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia

Decompostion

Breakdown of complex dead organic matter into simpler inorganic substances (like carbon dioxide, water, and nutrients) by organisms such as bacteria, fungi, and detritivores

Runoff

portion of precipitation snowmelt, or irrigation water that does not infiltrate the soil but instead flows over the land surface, moving downhill due to gravity into streams, rivers, and lakes

Condensaation

Process where water vapor becomes liquid

Transpiration

Process where plants absorb liquid water through roots and release water vapor into the atmosphere through pores in their leaves

Evaporation

Process where liquid water turns into gaseous water vapor below its boiling point, primarily occuring at surface

Precipitation

Any form of water—liquid(rain, drizzle) or soild(snow, hail, sleet)—that falls from the atmosphere to Earth’s surface

Carbon cycle

Process where carbon atoms travel from the atmosphere to Earth’s organisms(living, dead, and fossilized) and rock into the atmosphere, ocean, rocks

Nitrogen cycle

Nitrogen moves through the atmosphere, soil, water, and living organisms, converting between various chemical forms

Phosphorus cycle

Slow process of phoshorus moving through the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere, primarily as phosphate

Oxygen cycle

Process that describes the circulation of oxygen atoms between the atmosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere

Hydrosphere

Total sum of all water on Earth, encompassing liquid surface and underground water(ocean, lakes, rivers, groundwater), ice(polar caps, glaciers), and Atmospheric water vapor

Atmosphere

The gaseous layer surrounding Earth, held by gravity, and crucial for sustaining life

Biosphere

Global ecosystem composed of all living organisms and the areas of Earth where life exists, including the lower atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere

Geosphere

The solid portion of Earth, comprising all rocks, minerals sediments, and soil, extending from the surface down to the inner core

Lithosphere

The rigid, rocky outer layer of the Earth, consisting of the crust and the brittle upper mantle

Fossil Fuels

Non-renewable hydrocarbon-based energy sources