Skip to main content

The Phosphorus Cycle

This video presents the same text shown beside it, spoken and on screen. It adds nothing the text does not say.

State

The phosphorus cycle moves phosphorus mainly through rock weathering, soil uptake, and sediment, lacking a significant atmospheric phase and so cycling more slowly than carbon or nitrogen.

Show

Weathered phosphorus enters soil and water, is taken up by plants, and returns to sediment on a geologic timescale.

Watch for

Unlike carbon and nitrogen, phosphorus has no atmospheric phase, making rock weathering its primary source.