Submitted by weakherofan t3_10pr2hd in explainlikeimfive
nmxt t1_j6m35dw wrote
Those nutrients eventually get decomposed down to carbon dioxide and other simple compounds, which enter the oceanic circulation and get back up eventually, although it might take hundreds of years for a single atom of carbon to enter the atmosphere again. Sometimes the nutrients get buried by sediment before they can be completely decomposed, and then they become part of the tectonic plate and only get recycled in volcanoes (or not at all).
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