During the water cycle, when rainwater moves through soil and erodes land, sedimentary elements of which biogeochemical cycle can be transported to oceans?

Correct answer: Phosphorus cycle

Correct answer: B, the phosphorus cycle. Phosphorus is commonly described as a sedimentary nutrient because its major natural store is in rocks and sediments rather than in a large atmospheric reservoir. Weathering releases phosphate-containing particles and dissolved phosphate. Rainwater and surface runoff can carry these materials through streams and rivers toward lakes and oceans, where they may settle as sediments. A is not the best answer because nitrogen has a major gaseous atmospheric reservoir and moves through fixation, nitrification, and denitrification. C and D are mainly associated with important atmospheric gas exchanges, although carbon and oxygen can also move in water. The question specifically points to a sedimentary element, so phosphorus is the clearest choice. Memory cue: phosphorus is often remembered as the “rock-and-sediment” nutrient.