Soil Pollution: Origin, Monitoring & Remediation

by Ibrahim Mirsal

Overview

Who ever has enjoyed following the legendary duel between the Egyptian Pharaoh and his magicians (Alchemists) on one side, and Moses and his brother Aaron on the other, as it is vividly narrated by the Bible, must have realised, that people (at least those living at, or near the eternal battle fields of the middle East) have al­ ways had knowledge about the terrible consequences of soil pollution by chemi­ cals. This knowledge must have existed long before Moses and his Pharaoh. No­ body knows when did it start, yet it must have been born at very early times, reaching back to the dawn of human conscious. As history teaches, human knowledge explodes in logarithmic dimensions, and times have come when pollution attained alarming levels, with pollutants from in­ dustrial and military sources becoming a threat to life wherever it exists on this Earth. At the end of the 20th century, states started projects for pollution control and remediation, major Universities changed their programs to accommodate en­ vironmental studies at central positions in their curricula and nations forgot their differences and came together to sign the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and other treaties allowing pollution control on world wide scale.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783662054000
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	04/17/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	5 MB

Table of Contents

1 The Origin of Soil.- 2 Soil Constituents.- 3 Soil properties.- 4 Soil Classification and Soil Types.- 5 Soil Degradation.- 6 Major types of soil pollutants.- 7 Sources of Soil Pollution.- 8 Pollution Mechanisms and Soil — Pollutants interaction.- 9 Pollutants’ alteration, transformation, and initiation of chemical changes within the soil.- 10 Monitoring and monitoring plans.- 11 Biological Monitoring.- 12 Models and their construction.- 13 Planning and realisation of Soil remediation.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

"This graduate-level text treats the subjects related to the interdisciplinary fields of soil pollution and remediation. After a thorough and comprehensive introduction to the relevant fundamentals … of soil, readers are well prepared to understand the biochemical aspects of soil remediation then presented. Soil-monitoring plans, including sampling procedures, and mathematical modelling are covered in a manner enabling readers from various disciplines to acquire the scientific literacy … . it will certainly be of special interest to students and researchers in soil sciences." (International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 84 (14-15), 2004)

"This book, unique among soil literature, ‘is designed as a contribution to understanding the origins, mechanisms and consequences of the environmental setbacks brought about by soil pollution.’ It is useful for students of earth sciences, environmental sciences, and agriculture, as well for professionals of all these fields who are seeking an integration of all the isolated parts they have learned about soil pollution." (P.L. Pisani, Advances in Horticultural Science, Vol. 18 (3), 2004)

"The book is designed as a contribution to understanding the origins, mechanisms and consequences of the environmental setbacks brought about by soil pollution. The book presents a comprehensive, integrated overview of previously separately treated materials, written for students and teachers as well as for professionals from the earth, environmental and agricultural sciences." (Bulletin of the International Union of Soil Science, January, 2004)

"This book, Soil Pollution, is a contribution from a member of that wider family, from a geologist. It targets students of earth, environmental and agricultural sciences in addition to professionals in those subjects. … In general, the book is easy to read and to understand even by non-professionals. It is alsoattractively produced." (J. Agbenin, European Journal of Soil Science, Vol. 55 (3), 2004)

"This is a wide-ranging text on soil pollution. The works starts with an introduction to soils, including chapters on the origins of soils, soil constituents, properties, classification, and-importantly and unusually-soil degradation. … Overall it is a an interesting text, which presents the problems of soil pollution from a novel angle … ." (S. A. Jefferis, Geotechnique, Vol. 55 (6), 2005)

"It is one of a few recent texts to attempt to bridge the subjects of soil science and chemical contamination. … As it stands, this is a useful text for those needing to cover a wide and (previously):disparate group of subjects … likely to be mainly used (and extensively so) as a reference text in university and civic reference libraries." (Anthony R. Vann, International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2006)

From the Publisher