Currently, much attention is paid to environmental issues. Humanity sometimes recklessly and brutally exploits its planet, not noticing what the consequences are for such interactions. But at the same time, pollution of the atmosphere, soil and water in some areas of the Earth reaches critical values. About what there are ways to identify the degree of anthropogenic environmental degradation, as well as measures of action aimed at the most gentle and effective correction of the situation, and will be discussed in the material below.
Key Definitions
Ecosystem pollution is one of the options for its degradation. In this regard, there is a destruction of food chains and relationships that have developed over decades, as well as the disappearance of many representatives of flora and fauna. In 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, significantly exceeding 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 environmental degradation. 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 required to determine the percentage of harmful chemicals and compounds in them.
Important Features
The manifestation of all possible signs of the negative impact of harmful substances on certain types of living organisms can be considered one of the most significant criteria that characterizes the assessment of the degree of soil pollution. After all, everyone knows that each representative of the flora and fauna has a different measure of susceptibility or the so-called resistance to the influence of chemical compounds. Especially dangerous is the fact that the surrounding environment and other living organisms, the natural environment is often oversaturated with some harmful substances. The latter, in turn, come there from various anthropogenic sources and pose a fairly significant environmental threat. Moreover, the upper limits of the content of such chemical compounds are so high that any living organisms can suffer, regardless of the sensitivity threshold.
Where does the infection come from?
Currently, monitoring of soil pollution reveals several main categories, as a result of which a deterioration in the state of the lithosphere of our planet is observed. It is important to remember that the hard shell of the Earth, through which we make many movements every day, is a special system. A huge number of various processes take place in it. For example, biological, chemical and physical. However, with the negative impact of some anthropogenic factors, all of the above processes are violated. Thus, an 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 household waste falls into the ground. In addition, monitoring of soil pollution revealed that most often the harmful substances that make their negative contribution are metals, as well as their various compounds, fertilizers (including pesticides) and various radioactive elements.
main sources
As mentioned earlier, a significant part of pollutants enters the environment as a result of the economic activities of industrial enterprises, the rural sector, as well as household activities of each person. Nevertheless, it is necessary to more accurately understand where these substances come from and in what volumes.
Residential 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? For example, 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 enterprises
Despite a significant share of the housing and communal complex in the issue of environmental pollution, large-scale production is still in first place. Monitoring of soil and soil pollution shows that industrial waste contains the largest percentage of toxic substances and compounds that can have a fairly strong negative impact on natural resources, as well as on many living organisms.
Energetics
It would seem strange, but the types of soil pollution include such a point. In the modern world, the production of electricity and heat is one of the priority areas for the development of each state. However, traditional methods of energy production are classified as so-called especially 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 of this, many by-products are formed, such as soot, sulfur oxides and other substances, as well as emissions of small unburned particles into the airspace of the planet. Over time, soil contamination monitoring detects all of these compounds in the soil.
Agriculture
This is the next item on the list of Soil Pollution. Among the harmful substances that enter the environment through this sector of human life, traditionally include fertilizers, pesticides and other substances. Of course, all of them are used with good purposes, for example, to protect agricultural flora and fauna from diseases and pests. However, modern monitoring of soil pollution with pesticides reveals that there are still more negative consequences from such activities than benefits. Therefore, the national policy of many developed states is aimed at correcting the current situation. Thus, monitoring soil pollution in agriculture is an important and integral part of maintaining a favorable environmental situation.
Vehicles
Currently, a significant part of mechanical vehicles is equipped with internal combustion engines. But they are the "suppliers" of a huge number of all kinds of harmful and toxic environmental compounds. For example, monitoring of soil pollution provides the following information: in the areas of large roads, there is an increased content of lead oxides, nitrogen, as well as hydrocarbons and other substances that appear as a result of ICE operation. It is estimated that annually several tons of harmful compounds are released into the atmosphere only with the exhaust gases of automobiles. 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 ecological situation.
Additional difficulties
Another important environmental issue is related to vehicles . Namely, accidents on tankers, pipelines and other methods of supplying fuel raw materials to the place of processing. Similar studies are involved in monitoring soil pollution during hydrocarbon spills. Close monitoring of the places of extraction and refining of oil and its products is underway. Since in case 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, each of us daily unknowingly harms nature. This occurs when using well-known compounds, such as diesel fuel, gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil and other products resulting from oil refining. Monitoring soil contamination, as mentioned earlier, is aimed at identifying particularly critical areas and restoring a positive environmental situation.
Mercury soil pollution monitoring
The above-mentioned substance, due to its appearance in the Earth's lithosphere, is due to the economic activity of factories, chemical enterprises, as well as combines of the black and non-ferrous industries. In addition, soil degradation (heavy metal pollution) is due to a number of other reasons. These traditionally include defective measuring instruments (for example, thermometers), all kinds of components of household waste. Of course, a certain percentage of mercury enters the soil due to 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 quantities, these natural compounds are useful and even necessary for the normal functioning of organisms. However, when exceeding the maximum permissible percentage values, say, in the human body, the heavy metals described above 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.
Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, the soil cover of the Earth is a rather complex natural formation, which 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 lengthy transformation processes that took place during 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 accepted that soil monitoring allows a high degree of accuracy to track the level of the studied pollutants, as well as to establish the boundaries and zones of their distribution. Currently, it is estimated that every year only a resident of our planet produces about a ton of all kinds of waste. They include both liquid and solid types, and a total of about fifty kilograms is allocated to the share of difficult to decompose materials. As a result of this state of affairs, organizations involved in maintaining and maintaining a favorable environmental situation produce a significant amount of research 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 certain factors. Anthropogenic, technogenic, mechanical, chemical, biological and other pollutants may be used as the latter. The main goal of monitoring is collecting and summarizing information, identifying and forecasting various processes, determining the degree of effectiveness of measures taken to protect land.