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  • Review Article
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Drivers of the global phosphorus cycle over geological time

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 5, pages 873–889 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Phosphorus is a key limiting nutrient of terrestrial and marine primary production. Thus, the global phosphorus cycle is intimately linked with the carbon cycle and influences climate over geological timescales. In this Review, we explore the environmental forcings governing the global phosphorus cycle over the last ~3.0 billion years, focusing on sources from continental weathering and removal through burial in marine sediments. Modern continental weathering of phosphorus is dominated by apatite dissolution (25.4 ± 5.4 × 1010 mol year−1) and organic matter oxidation (1.2 ± 0.2 × 1010 mol year−1), and is governed by local temperature, biota, tectonic activity and atmospheric partial pressures of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Of this modern weathered phosphorus flux, rivers deliver 2.8 ± 0.2 × 1010 mol year−1 dissolved phosphorus and 20 ± 6 × 1010 mol year−1 reactive particulate phosphorus to the ocean, where phosphorus has a residence time of 11,000–27,000 years. Phosphorus burial in marine sediments is the primary sink term and balances with phosphorus weathering on geological timescales. Burial rates are governed by organic matter flux, ocean chemistry, redox conditions, temperature and biological activity in sediments. Enhanced resolution of empirical observations combined with sophisticated data analysis is needed to robustly constrain how environmental drivers influence the phosphorus cycle and, thus, climate.

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Fig. 1: The global phosphorus cycle.
Fig. 2: Phosphorus burial across different marine environments.
Fig. 3: Calculation of the evolution of continental phosphorus weathering.
Fig. 4: Effect of temperature, \({{\boldsymbol{p}}}_{{{\rm{CO}}}_{2}}\) and rock type on phosphorus weathering.
Fig. 5: Evolution of phosphorus burial through time.
Fig. 6: Influence of seawater calcium concentration and sedimentation rate on phosphorus burial.

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Data availability

All the compiled data files for this study are available in the Supplementary Tables.

Code availability

The code for the diagenetic model is available in the Supplementary Information.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (42488201, 42325206), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB0710202, XDA0430202) and the IGGCAS Key programme (no. IGGCAS-202201). K.-Q.X. thanks the Hundred Talents Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. B.J.W.M. thanks UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) (grants NE/S009663/1 and EP/Y008790/1). The authors thank P. Ju for valuable insights.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric and Environmental Coevolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Mingyu Zhao, Bo Wan, Licheng Guo & Zhengtang Guo

  2. Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Mingyu Zhao, Licheng Guo & Zhengtang Guo

  3. School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Benjamin J. W. Mills & Simon W. Poulton

  4. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Ke-Qing Xiao

  5. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Ke-Qing Xiao

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M.Z. wrote the manuscript, with input from all authors.

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Glossary

Activation energy

The minimum amount of energy required to begin a chemical reaction.

Biodiffusion

The mixing of solids and solutes in sediments by fauna.

Bioirrigation

The exchange of solutes between pore water and seawater through the borrowing of fauna.

Biological pump

The fixation of inorganic carbon to organic carbon in the surface ocean and transport to the deep ocean.

Conveyor-belt feeding

Transfer of particles from depth within sediments to the sediment–water interface by fauna.

Euxinic

Anoxic and sulfidic conditions in the water column.

Ferruginous

Anoxic and iron-rich conditions in the water column.

Great Oxygenation Event

Earth’s first major rise in atmospheric oxygen, which occurred between 2.4 and 2.1 billion years ago (Ga).

Green rust

A mixed ferrous–ferric phase and potentially important precursor mineral during deposition of banded iron formations.

Microbial mats

Multilayered sheets of microorganisms.

Monte Carlo

A mathematical technique that predicts the probability of a range of outcomes when random variables are present.

Non-local chemical exchange

Chemical exchange between non-adjacent sediment layers.

Phosphorite

A phosphorus-rich sedimentary rock consisting of carbonate fluorapatite (CFA) or francolite.

Redfield ratio

The average atomic ratio of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in marine phytoplankton.

Sink-switching

The transformation of one chemical phase of a component (for example, phosphorus) to another during diagenesis in sediments.

Ultimate limiting nutrient

The most important nutrient that determines the production rate of new organic matter by phytoplankton or plants.

Wildfire feedback

Fires burn more intensely under increased atmospheric oxygen, which will consume oxygen and stabilize the atmospheric oxygen level.

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Zhao, M., Mills, B.J.W., Poulton, S.W. et al. Drivers of the global phosphorus cycle over geological time. Nat Rev Earth Environ 5, 873–889 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00603-4

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