Monitoring soil pollution. Types of soil pollution

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Currently, much attention is paid to environmental issues. Mankind sometimes recklessly and cruelly exploits its planet, not noticing what consequences come from such interactions. But at the same time, the pollution of the atmosphere, soil and water in some areas of the Earth reaches critical values. What are the ways to identify the degree of anthropogenic degradation of the environment, as well as the impact measures aimed at the most gentle and effective correction of the current situation, and will be discussed in the material below.

Basic definitions

Pollution of the ecosystem is one of the options for its degradation. In this regard, there is a destruction of the food chains and relationships that have developed over decades, as well as the disappearance of manyrepresentatives of flora and fauna. The role of pollutants, in turn, are all kinds of compounds of anthropogenic origin. They are characterized by the amount of release into the environment, which largely exceeds the maximum permissible levels that nature can process without enormous damage to itself and its inhabitants.

Soil pollution

This is a special kind of anthropogenic degradation of the environment. The main characteristic of such a negative impact on nature is estimated relative to the background level for a particular region. Therefore, periodic monitoring of soil pollution is necessary to identify the percentage of harmful chemicals and compounds in them.

Important Features

One of the most significant criteria that characterizes the assessment of the degree of soil pollution can be considered the manifestation of all kinds of signs of the negative impact of harmful substances on certain types of living organisms. After all, everyone knows that each representative of flora and fauna has a different measure of susceptibility or the so-called resistance to the influence of chemical compounds. Particularly dangerous is the fact that the natural environment surrounding humans and other living organisms is often oversaturated with some harmful substances. The latter, in turn, come there from various anthropogenic sources and pose a fairly significant environmental threat. At the same time, the upper limits of the content of such chemicalcompounds are so high that any living organisms can suffer, regardless of the threshold of sensitivity.

Where does the infection come from?

Currently, monitoring of soil pollution reveals several main categories, as a result of which there is a deterioration in the state of the lithosphere of our planet. It is important to remember that the solid shell of the Earth, on which we make many movements every day, is a special system. It contains a huge number of various processes. For example, biological, chemical and physical. However, with the negative impact of some anthropogenic factors, all of the above processes are violated. Thus, the assessment of the degree of soil pollution showed that the state of the Earth's lithosphere largely depends on the natural situation in the air shell, as well as the structure of water resources. After all, it is from there that a significant amount of agricultural, industrial and domestic waste enters the soil. In addition, soil pollution monitoring revealed that metals, as well as their various compounds, fertilizers (including pesticides) and various radioactive elements, most often act as harmful substances that make their negative contribution.

Main sources

As mentioned earlier, a significant part of the pollutants enter the environment as a result of the economic activities of industrial enterprises, the rural sector, as well as household activitieseach person. Nevertheless, it is necessary to more accurately understand where and in what volumes certain substances can come.

Apartment buildings

Every day, each of us unconsciously produces about a few kilograms of household waste. Perhaps these figures are not so intimidating. And if you take the total amount for a certain period? Like week, month, year? For such an extensive period of time, the above value grows to several tons. Not every major metropolis can cope with such an influx of garbage. However, it should be remembered that this category includes not only construction and household waste, but also household items that are out of order, feces and more.

Industrial plants

Despite the significant share of the housing and communal complex in the issue of environmental pollution, large-scale industries still occupy the first places. Monitoring of soil and soil pollution shows that industrial waste contains the highest percentage of toxic substances and compounds that can have a rather strong negative impact on natural resources, as well as on many living organisms.

Energy

It would seem strange, but the types of soil pollution include such an item. In the modern world, obtaining electricity and heat is one of the priority areas for the development of each state. However, traditional methodsenergy production are included in the category of so-called particularly dirty industries. For example, at thermal power plants, through which the above-described benefits of civilization are extracted, the combustion of minerals is carried out. As a result, many by-products are formed, such as soot, sulfur oxides and other substances, as well as emissions of small unburned particles into the planet's airspace. Over time, soil pollution monitoring detects all the mentioned compounds in the soil.

Agriculture

This is the next item on the list "Types of soil pollution". Among the harmful substances that enter the environment through this sector of human activity, traditionally include fertilizers, pesticides and other substances. Of course, all of them are used for good purposes, for example, to protect agricultural flora and fauna from diseases and pests. However, modern monitoring of soil pollution with pesticides reveals that the negative consequences of such activities are still greater than the benefits. Therefore, the national policy of many developed countries is aimed at correcting the current situation. Thus, soil pollution monitoring in agriculture is an important and integral part of maintaining a favorable environmental situation.

Vehicles

Currently, a significant part of the mechanical vehicles are equipped with enginesinternal combustion. But they are "suppliers" of a huge number of all kinds of harmful and toxic compounds for the environment. For example, monitoring of soil pollution provides the following information: in areas of major roads, there is an increased content of oxides of lead, nitrogen, as well as hydrocarbons and other substances that appear as a result of the operation of internal combustion engines. It is estimated that annually several tons of harmful compounds are emitted into the atmosphere only with car exhaust gases. And then they settle on the surface of the Earth. In turn, monitoring of soil pollution with heavy metals makes it possible to timely identify the most dangerous zones and take maximum measures to preserve the environmental situation.

Additional difficulties

Another important environmental problem is connected with vehicles. Namely, accidents on tankers, pipelines and other ways of supplying fuel raw materials to the place of processing. Monitoring of soil pollution during hydrocarbon spills is engaged in similar studies. Close monitoring of the places of extraction and processing of oil and its products is carried out. Since in the event of an emergency, there is a danger of soil salinization, heavy metal pollution and other negative consequences that have a detrimental effect on the environment. However, every day each of us unknowingly harms nature. This happens when using well-known compounds such as diesel fuel, gasoline, kerosene,fuel oil and other products obtained as a result of oil refining. Soil pollution monitoring, as mentioned earlier, is aimed at identifying particularly critical areas and restoring a positive environmental situation.

Monitoring soil mercury pollution

The above-presented substance owes its appearance in the Earth's lithosphere to the economic activity of factories, chemical enterprises, as well as black and non-ferrous industries. In addition, soil deterioration (heavy metal pollution) is due to a number of other reasons. These traditionally include failed measuring instruments (for example, thermometers), various components of household waste. Of course, a certain percentage of mercury enters the soil through agriculture, namely the use of various fertilizers. However, the previously named element, like other heavy metals, has an important characteristic feature. It lies in the fact that in certain, relatively small amounts, these natural compounds are useful and even necessary for the normal functioning of organisms. However, if the maximum permissible percentages are exceeded, say, in the human body, the above-described heavy metals can cause significant negative consequences. Starting from mild excitability and memory impairment and ending with damage to the central nervous system, failure of some internal organs and, in especially severe cases, even death.outcome.

Conclusion

As mentioned earlier, the soil cover of the Earth is a rather complex natural formation that has a certain set of properties inherent in objects of both living and inanimate nature. It should be noted that all layers of the lithosphere were formed as a result of long-term transformation processes that took place with direct interaction with other components of the planet's shell. Such as the hydrosphere, the atmosphere and, of course, the biosphere. Among other things, it is also important to remember that the soil cover is a more stable and difficult to change structure. In connection with the above factors, it is assumed that soil monitoring makes it possible to track the level of pollutants under study with a high degree of accuracy, as well as to establish the boundaries and zones of their distribution. It is currently estimated that every year a single inhabitant of our planet produces about a ton of all kinds of waste. These include both liquid and solid types, and in total, about fifty kilograms are assigned to the share of hardly decomposable materials. As a result of this state of affairs, organizations involved in the preservation and maintenance of a favorable environmental situation produce a significant amount of research, which is called "monitoring". They, in turn, are systematic observations of the general condition, as well as various changes in the soil cover of a particular region under the influence of certainfactors. The latter can be anthropogenic, technogenic, mechanical, chemical, biological and other pollutants. The main purpose of monitoring is to collect and summarize information, identify and predict various processes, determine the degree of effectiveness of measures taken to protect land.