Organic elements return to inorganic pools.
Operational definition
Postmortem biogeochemical process.
The conversion of organically bound elements into inorganic compounds through decomposition and metabolism.
Examples include:
organic C→ CO_2
organic N→ NH_4^+
organic P→ PO_4^3-
Mineralization returns elements to inorganic pools but does not imply that all products remain locally available.