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The Oxygen Cycle

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The Natural Environment and the Biogeochemical Cycles

Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC))

Abstract

The presence of abundant free oxygen in the terrestrial atmosphere is an anomaly in a solar system and universe composed predominantly of hydrogen. It is, of course, a direct consequence of the presence of life on earth, particularly the presence of photosynthetic organisms that use water as electron donor to reduce carbon dioxide to organic matter, producing molecular oxygen as a waste product.

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  1. College of Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    J. C. G. Walker

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© 1980 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Walker, J.C.G. (1980). The Oxygen Cycle. In: The Natural Environment and the Biogeochemical Cycles. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-24940-6_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-24940-6_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-22988-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-24940-6

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