Question

Describe the cause/effect relationship of weathering and the phosphorus cycle.

1) Weathering transports phosphorus into the oceans.
2) Weathering allows for phosphorus to become gaseous.
3) Weathering slows down the phosphorus cycle.
4) Weathering is the only way to release phosphorus from rocks.

Answer 1

Weathering releases phosphate into the environment, making it available for terrestrial food webs and cycling through marine food webs.

Step-by-step explanation:

Weathering plays a crucial role in the phosphorus cycle by releasing phosphate into the environment. It does not transport phosphorus into the oceans or allow it to become gaseous. Instead, weathering of rocks and volcanic activity release phosphate into the soil, water, and air, making it available to terrestrial food webs.

Phosphate can then enter the oceans through surface runoff, groundwater flow, and river flow. Once in the ocean, phosphate dissolved in ocean water cycles into marine food webs, with some of it eventually falling to the ocean floor and forming sediment.