Main reservoirs and fluxes — in the biosphere (green), marine biosphere (blue), lithosphere (brown), and atmosphere (grey). The major fluxes between these reservoirs are shown in colored arrows, where the green arrows are related to the terrestrial biosphere, blue arrows are related to the marine biosphere, black arrows are related to the lithosphere, and the purple arrow is related to space (not a reservoir, but also contributes to the atmospheric O2).[1] The value of photosynthesis or net primary productivity (NPP) can be estimated through the variation in the abundance and isotopic composition of atmospheric O2.[2][3] The rate of organic carbon burial was derived from estimated fluxes of volcanic and hydrothermal carbon.[4][5]
Oxygen is one of the most common elements on Earth and represents a large portion of each main reservoir. By far the largest reservoir of Earth's oxygen is within the silicate and oxideminerals of the crust and mantle (99.5% by weight).[6] The Earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere together hold less than 0.05% of the Earth's total mass of oxygen. Besides O2, additional oxygen atoms are present in various forms spread throughout the surface reservoirs in the molecules of biomass, H2O, CO2, HNO3, NO, NO2, CO, H2O2, O3, SO2, H2SO4, MgO, CaO, Al2O3, SiO2, and PO3−4.[7]
^ abcKnoll AH, Canfield DE, Konhauser K (2012). "7". Fundamentals of geobiology. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons . pp. 93–104. ISBN978-1-118-28087-4. OCLC793103985.
^Keeling RF, Shertz SR (August 1992). "Seasonal and interannual variations in atmospheric oxygen and implications for the global carbon cycle". Nature. 358 (6389): 723–727. Bibcode:1992Natur.358..723K. doi:10.1038/358723a0. S2CID4311084.