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On Some Fundamental Problems of Biogeochemistry

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On Some Fundamental Problems of Biogeochemistry On Some Fundamental Problems of Biogeochemistry In Connection with the Work of the Laboratory of Biogeochemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR1 by V.I. Vernadsky Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR The Earth at night: A satellite view of the electrical lights created by man’s activity in the biosphere. Data: AVHRR, NDVI, Seawifs, MODIS, NCEP, DMSP and Sky2000 star catalog; Texture: Reto Stockli; Visualization: Marit Jentoft-Nilsen I biosphere, that is, the total of all the living organisms present in the biosphere at a given moment. Thus the living organism iogeochemistry, which is a part of geochemistry and has itself, expressed in numbers, is a new independent expres- peculiar methods and peculiar problems of its own, sion of the same phenomenon, which the biologist views in Bmay be finally reduced to a precise quantitative mathe- a vivid physiological and morphological expression of the matical expression of the living nature in its indissoluble con- innumerable forms of life. Between these precise and scien- nection with the external medium, in which the living nature tific expressions of life relations might be and should be exists. A living organism thus acquires an aspect different sought for. from the one it has in biology; it is expressed in numbers of Biogeochemistry is, as shown by its very name, a scientific atomic or weight composition, in physical, quantitatively study of the phenomena of life in the aspect of atoms. expressed, manifestations of the space it occupies, in numer- Hence, it seems to me that in the phenomena of life we al energetical expressions of the work it does in the space of may approach in a new way a number of fundamental prob- life upon our planet. lems of life, on one hand, and on the other, relate the biolog- Life in the biogeochemical aspect is the living matter of the ical phenomena. with the branches of science dealing with 21st CENTURY Winter 2005-2006 39 atoms; i.e. with that field of made to use more sensitive science, which distinguishes methods, but the construc- our epoch from the preced- tion of Dempster’s appara- ing ones. It is in this funda- tus, started nine years ago, mental distinction of biogeo- proved to be beyond the chemistry from the other bio- possibilities of the logical sciences that lies its Laboratory. After we had importance and its interest moved to Moscow, our posi- for the biologist. tion changed for the better, At present, we may quite and the discovery of Brewer, definitely state that bio- who used an improved mass- gechemistry penetrates as far spectrograph of Dempster, as atomic properties, and is found us already engaged in not restricted only to the the construction of the same properties of chemical ele- mass-spectrograph and of ments, since we may study another one, of J.J. the different reaction of life Thomson’s system, and of to different atoms of the same an apparatus for the deter- chemical elements, the dif- mination of isotopes by a ferent relation of life to the superfine spectrography of isotopes of the element. It atoms. I hope that we shall was already evident at the be able next year to elucidate first attack on biogeochemi- the problem. cal phenomena that the At the same time, by cour- problem could be advanced tesy of my son G.W. as a feasible one in this Vernadsky, professor at Yale aspect. This was done by the University, New Haven, we author on the basis of an have now obtained the nec- empiric generalization of sci- essary material for verifying entific facts at the Academy Brewer’s numbers, the mate- of Sciences in 1926, ten rial from those gigantic years ago, and the problem Macrocystis algae of the T.B. Pyatibratova, Tambov State Technical University was at once included in the Pacific Ocean, upon which plan of our Laboratory. At Vladimir I. Vernadsky (1863-1945) Brewer worked. From this present, the problem may be material we extract potassi- treated with greater precision and assurance, since for hydro- um, which should be changed by the life process. gen and potassium the distinction between their isotopes in I hope to be able to report of the results of this work in the biogeochemical processes may be considered as settled. current academic year. Until recently the isotopes in the Earth’s crust were distin- We are faced with a general problem. Is the change of the guished by their effect only in radiochemical processes: In this chemical element with a different atomic weight by the life way the problem was treated for potassium by the physiolo- process restricted to some few chemical elements, such as gists Zwardemaaker in Holland, and Stoklasa in hydrogen and potassium, or is this a phenomenon common to Czechoslovakia. The new investigations carried out by Brewer all the organisms and all the chemical elements? Don’t we in Washington in 1936 have shown that radiochemical have in this biogenic change of the atomic weight one of the processes have nothing to do with this, since both isotopes of numerous manifestations of a sharp material and energetic dis- potassium, with the atomic weights of 39 and 41—the ratio tinction of the living matter and the inert, which are observed between the amounts of the latter varying in accordance with in all of the biogeochemical problems? I shall return to this life processes—are not radioactive. question later on. The problem we advanced in 1926 has never since left the This question may be solved only experimentally. field of vision of the Laboratory, but the circumstances pre- Likewise, only experiment may show the part played by life vented its development in the proper way. In 1931, the in the variations of the atomic weight of the chemical ele- investigations of V.G. Khlopin and M.A. Khlopina-Pasvik ments, which are only just beginning to be observed in the showed for pea grains that within the range of chemical geochemical processes in the Earth’s crust and which up to determination of the atomic weight, the atomic weight of now have been neglected. potassium in the pea remains unchanged; they recognized, This study cannot be only our object, since the change of however, that this does not settle the question, since the vari- the atomic weight is not connected only with life. It is a ations may be of a lesser order, than the one detectable by subject of geochemical investigation. The Laboratory their method. restricts itself to the study of the biogenic change of the Still earlier, at the same Laboratory, an attempt had been atomic weight; H, K, Mg, Fe, Zn await their turn in the 40 Winter 2005-2006 21st CENTURY investigation. We cannot, however, over- look the other physiological Arthur J. Dempster (1886- side of the problem, when it 1950) developed the mass is possible to advance it; that spectrometer, which he is, the question of the mecha- used to discover many nism of the action of the isotopes, including U- organisms upon the isotopic 235. In this schematic of mixtures of elements. We his spectrometer, ions are cannot treat this subject our- detected by means of a selves. But since with respect Faraday cup F behind a to potassium, the Laboratory slit Sp. The poles of the will have at its disposal bio- magnet, S and N, are also genic potassium with a differ- the electric deflection ent atomic weight, it is neces- plates, and M is ion sary to undertake the study of shielding. its vital properties. It is most important to eluci- University of Chicago, AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives date the physiological side of the phenomenon both for plants and for animals. With respect to plants and microbes we hope to receive assistance from the laborato- ries of D.N. Prianishnikov. Negotiations are conducted with the laboratory of A.V. Palladin, at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kiev, concerning a joint investigation of the problem as far as animals are concerned. The material of the potassium biogenically changed should be fully utilized. II Karl Wien, Brazilian Journal of Physics, Vol. 39, Number 2. A great part of our work is connected with a study not of the um; it actively creates atomic composition, it tends to atoms themselves but of chemical elements, of isotopic mix- choose, consciously or unconsciously, the chemical ele- tures. In purely chemical processes, all the isotopes of the ments necessary for life, but as life presents a field of dynam- same element are manifested in a similar way. Hence, while ic equilibria, it reflects—both in its composition and in its we remain within the field of purely chemical processes, the form—the different physico-chemical properties of the medi- chemical element may be identified with the atom, as it is the um. These variations, however, do not change their average, case in the periodical system of elements. On this the whole little varying, expression. chemistry is based. A species established by biologists may be character- Proceeding from this general statement, it has been possi- ized in weight or in atomic composition as precisely, as ble to show by the work of our Laboratory that the atomic by its morphological features, also within a definite range composition of organisms, plants, and animals is as charac- of variations it may characterize a homogenous living teristic a feature as their morphological form or physiological substance—the totality of organisms of the same species, structure or as their appearance and internal structure. It race, jordanons—as it is characterized by morphological should be noted that the elementary chemical composition features.
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