2. • The definition of soil pollution refers to a
degradation process caused by presence in
soils of substances detrimental to the health
of humans, animals and plants (FAO, 2018).
3. • Soil health is crucial to ecosystem services, not
only in the provisioning component with the
production of food, fibres, and fuel, but also in
the regulating, cultural and supporting
components.
4.
5. NATURAL SOURCES
• It is crucial to separate background values from
baseline values when defining the extent of
contamination in areas where environmental
legislation has not yet established intervention
limits for all environmental matrices.
• Background values indicate geogenic natural
content, while baseline values indicate the actual
content of an element in the superficial
environment at any given.
6. • Several soil parent materials are natural sources of
certain heavy metals and other elements, such as
radionuclides
• Natural events such as volcanic eruptions or forest
fires can also cause natural pollution when many
toxic elements are released into the environment.
• These toxic elements include dioxin-like
compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs)
7. • Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can also occur
naturally in soils. They are usually of cosmogenic
origin, being relatively common in cosmic dust
samples and or derive from the diagenetic
alteration processes of waxes contained in soil
organic matter
• Naturally occurring asbestos (NOA) are fibrous
minerals that occur naturally in soils formed from
ultramafic rock, especially serpentine and
amphibole.
• NOA can be easily dispersed by wind erosion, and
their mobilization will depend on the characteristics
of the asbestos-containing materials, soil properties,
humidity, and local weather. Asbestos fiber can
cause disease asbestosis, lung cancer and
mesothelioma (tumour).
8. ANTROPHOGENIC SOURCES
• The main anthropogenic sources of soil
pollution are the chemicals used in or
produced as by-products of industrial
activities, domestic and municipal wastes,
including wastewater, agrochemicals, and
petrol-derived products
12. ECOSYSTEM
Some terms we should learn about soils:
Definition: Organic:
Materials that contain carbon compounds. Most
living things contain carbon compounds.
Definition: Inorganic:
Materials such as minerals that are not products
of organic life.
14. ECOSYSTEM
Soil Air: Pore
spaces for the
exchange of
gases.
Soil Water:
Stored in the
soil for plant
use. Contains
important
nutrients for
plant growth.
Soil Organic
Matter: Organic
materials and
biological life
that is
incorporated
into the soil.
Soil Minerals:
rocks and soil
particles that
make up soil
solids.
63. • Sources and fate of soil
microplastics in terrestrial
environments.
• Red fibers and spheres indicate
the potential microplastics in the
terrestrial ecosystem.
• Black or white arrows show
transport of microplastics. Four
circular panels represent
enlarged profile schematic
diagrams in special soil
environments: tire abrasion (a),
the potential uptake by plants
(b), uptake and transport by soil
animals (c), and trophic transfer
in terrestrial food chain (d).
64.
65. • The number of publications about microplastic pollution in different
types of environment matrices.
• (a) Increasing number of publications about microplastic pollution
from 2004 to 2018;
(b) The percentages of publications about microplastic pollution in sea, freshwater,
biology and soil in the total publications. Data are counted in papers published during
January 2004 to June 2018 (basing on the database of Web of Science).
66.
67. • Soil pollution can be caused by a specific
event or a series of events within a particular
area in which contaminants are released to
the soil, and the source and identity of the
pollution is easily identified. This type of
pollution is known as point-source pollution.
Anthropogenic activities represent the main
sources of point-source pollution.
68. • former factory sites, inadequate waste and
wastewater disposal, uncontrolled landfills,
excessive application of agrochemicals, spills
of many types, and many others.
• Activities such as mining and smelting
that are carried out using poor
environmental standards are also sources
of contamination with heavy metals in
many regions of the world.
69. • Point-source pollution is very common in
urban areas.
• Soils near roads have high levels of heavy
metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and
other pollutants
• Old or illegal landfills, where waste is not
disposed of properly or according to its
toxicity (e.g. batteries or radioactive waste), as
well as disposal of sewage sludge and
wastewater, can also be important point-
source pollutants
70. • Diffuse pollution is pollution that is spread
over very wide areas, accumulates in soil, and
does not have a single or easily identified
source.
• occurs where emission, transformation and
dilution of contaminants in other media have
occurred prior to their transfer to soil
• involves the transport of pollutants via air-soil-
water systems.
71. Examples of diffuse pollution
• nuclear power and weapons activities;
uncontrolled waste disposal and contaminated
effluents released in and near catchments; land
application of sewage sludge; the agricultural use
of pesticides and fertilizers which also add heavy
metals, persistent organic pollutants, excess
nutrients and agrochemicals that are transported
downstream by surface runoff; flood events;
atmospheric transport and deposition; and/or
soil erosion
