The effects of air pollutants on soil were studied in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forests near the boundary of Russia and Estonia. The study area is characterized by large amounts of acidic and basic pollutants, mainly sulphur dioxide (SO(2)) and calcium (Ca). Several variables were measured in different horizons of the podzolic soil polluted by emissions from local sources in areas of sev...

Various inorganic and organic pollutants in industrial soils may adversely affect soil microorganisms and terrestrial ecosystem functioning. The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between the microbial activity, microbial biomass, and functional diversity of soil bacteria and the metals and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) in the Upper Silesian Industrial Region (Poland). We co...

Organic pollutants (e.g. polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)) strongly sorb to carbonaceous sorbents such as black carbon and activated carbon (BC and AC, respectively). For a creosote-contaminated soil (Sigma15PAH 5500 mg kg(dry weight(dw))(-1)) and an urban soil with moderate PAH content (Sigma15PAH 38 mg kg(dw)(-1)), total organic carbon-water distribution coefficients (K(TOC)) were up to a fact...

Water interacts with soil through pore channels putting mineral constituents and pollutants into solution. The irregularity of pore boundaries and the heterogeneity of distribution of soil minerals and contaminants are, among others, two factors influencing that interaction and, consequently, the leaching of chemicals and the dispersion of solute throughout the soil. This paper deals with the i...

This article deals with the principles of soil formation and shows the problems to recognize and visualize the many effects of man made stress in soils. Soils are transformation products of minerals and organic matter with a defined organization, morphology and structure. They are closely related to site factors and for this, the soil properties vary considerably in time and space. Due to many ...

The extent of anthropogenic environmental pollution—in the United States (Black, 1999; Glass, 1999), in the European Union (Chaudhry et al., 2002), and in the third world is well documented. For example, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has estimated that at a minimum 10 t of unwanted pesticides are in ‘‘storage’’ in undeveloped countries, with at least 2 10 t in Afri...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are major pollutants globally and due to their carcinogenic and mutagenic properties their clean-up is paramount. Bioremediation or using PAH degrading microorganisms (mainly bacteria) to degrade the pollutants represents cheap, effective methods. These PAH degraders harbor functional genes which help microorganisms use PAHs as source of food and energy. ...

Worldwide, contamination of soil and ground water is a severe problem. The negative effects of pollutants on the environment and on human health are diverse and depend on the nature of the pollution. The search for alternative methods for excavation and incineration to clean polluted sites resulted in the application of bioremediation techniques. In this review, we describe some generally accep...

Improved predictions on the fate of organic pollutants in surface environments require a better understanding of the underlying sorption mechanisms that control their uptake by soils. In this study, we monitored sorption of nine aromatic compounds with varying physicochemical properties (hydrophobicity, electron-donor/acceptor ability and polarity), including two polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon...

inorganic and organic compounds, primarily as a result of human activities. While inorganic pollutants occur as natural elements in the Earth’s crust and atmosphere, human activities such as industry, mining, motorized traffic, agriculture, logging, and military actions promote their release and concentration in the environment, leading to toxicity (Nriagu 1979). Organic pollutants in the envir...