Where does phosphorus go once the rock is eroded?
It is a component of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and the coenzyme NADP, which is used in cellular processes such as photosynthesis What happens to phosphorus that erodes from rock and soil? Water erodes rock and soil containing phosphorus, which dissolves in the water. The phosphorus joins with the oxygen to form phosphate.
The buildup of phosphorus in lawns, gardens, pastures and croplands can cause plants to grow poorly and even die. Excessive soil phosphorus reduces the plant’s ability to take up required micronutrients, particularly iron and zinc, even when soil tests show there are adequate amounts of those nutrients in the soil.
Water erodes rock and soil containing phosphorus, which dissolves in the water. The phosphorus joins with the oxygen to form phosphate. What happens to the phosphorus that is carried by run-off to the oceans? The phosphorus is in the form of phosphates, much of which in concentrated in marine sediment.
Phosphorus is the key nutrient for the growth of algae and plants. In the absence of phosphorus, plants will wither away and their growth will be stopped which in turn will be the cause of eliminating oxygen from Earth. No oxygen means , human beings and other living things on earth woukld not be able to survive.
Phosphorus (P), next to nitrogen, is often the most limiting nutrient for crop and forage production. Phosphorus’ primary role in a plant is to store and transfer energy produced by photosynthesis for use in growth and reproductive processes. Soil P cycles in a variety forms in the soil (Figure 1).
Phosphorus fertiliser is mostly applied in a water-soluble form, which reacts rapidly in the soil (principally with iron, aluminium and calcium) to form less soluble, more stable compounds. Phosphorus is lost from the soil with soil erosion.
Phosphorus is primarily lost from farm fields through three processes: attached to the sediment that erodes from the field, dissolved in the surface water runoff, or dissolved in leachate and carried through the soil pro- file. Only phosphorus compounds that are soluble in water are available for plants to use.
Unlike carbon and nitrogen, most of the phosphorous on Earth is stored in soil and rocks in the form of phosphate. Phosphate is one molecule of phosphorous surrounded by four molecules of oxygen, or PO43-. Plants can absorb phosphate directly through their roots.
Phosphorus is most commonly found in rock formations and ocean sediments as phosphate salts. Phosphate salts that are released from rocks through weathering usually dissolve in soil water and will be absorbed by plants. Eventually, phosphorus is released again through weathering and the cycle starts over.
In a drainage basin, anthropogenic phosphorus is brought into the system mainly as fertilizers and detergents. Sewer systems and outwash processes transfer the phosphorus from the terrestrial environment to the aquatic part of the ecosystem where an accumulation occurs in the sediments of the watercourse.
Erosion flushes mineral bound phosphorus out of agricultural soils into wetlands and water bodies, where the excess of nutrients (called eutrophication) harms the aquatic plant and animal communities. Mineral fertilizers can replace the lost phosphorus in the fields, but not all countries are equally able to use them.
Phosphorus moves in a cycle through rocks, water, soil and sediments and organisms. Over time, rain and weathering cause rocks to release phosphate ions and other minerals. This inorganic phosphate is then distributed in soils and water.
