Soil pollution : origin, monitoring and remediation

Despite having been published about two years ago for the first time, the continuous demand for this book encouraged me to prepare this revised and enlarged edition. Many parts of the text have been rewritten, type errors traced and corrected, and the bibliography largely modified to include many of the references published about the subject of soil pollution in the previous ten years. I should like to express my thanks to the staff of Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, for their cooperative efforts in preparing this edition. I also would like to thank Mr. Michael Sidwell (B.A.) for the extreme but characteristic care with which he read and revised the proofs. I hope that, in this new edition, the book may continue to serve the needs of students and professionals alike interested in the subject of soil pollution. Ibrahim A. Mirsal Preface to the First Edition Whoever 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 is vividly narrated in the Bible, must have realised that people (at least those living at, or near the eternal battlefields of the Middle East) have always had knowledge about the terrible consequences of soil pollution by chemicals. This knowledge must have existed long before Moses and his Pharaoh. Nobody knows when people became aware of this, yet it must have been born in very early times, reaching back to the dawn of human conscious.

Author Notes

Professor Ibrahim A. Mirsal formerly Instanbul (Turkey), Manila (Philippines) and Marburg (Germany) was born in Suez / Egypt in 1939. He received his first academic degree in Chemistry and Geology from the University of Alexandria (Egypt). Thereafter, he received his doctorate and subsequently his professorship qualification in Geology from the University of Marburg (Germany). Since retiring, Professor Mirsal lives currently in Dillenburg (Germany). He is collecting material to produce a manual on environmental geology, which will appear in several volumes.

Part I Soil - Its Nature and Origin	p. 1
1 The Origin of Soil	p. 3
1.1 Physical or Mechanical Weathering	p. 3
1.2 Chemical Weathering - The Gate to Pedogenesis	p. 3
1.3 Weathering by Biological Agents	p. 5
1.3.1 The Pedogenic Cycle - A Cycle within the Global Sedimentary Cycle	p. 6
1.3.2 Transport Routes and Material Transfer within the Soil Body	p. 6
1.4 Factors Controlling Soil Formation	p. 10
1.5 Morphology of Soil	p. 11
2 Soil Constituents	p. 15
2.1 The Mineral Solid Phase	p. 15
2.1.1 The Orthosilicates	p. 16
2.1.2 Chain Silicates or Inosilicates	p. 17
2.1.3 Sheet Silicates or Phyllosilicates	p. 18
2.1.4 Framework Silicates or Tectosilicates	p. 23
2.2 Organic Matter and Soil Organisms	p. 23
2.2.1 Soil Organisms	p. 25
2.2.2 Dead Organic Matter	p. 28
2.3 The Liquid Phase - Soil Water	p. 42
2.3.1 Composition of Soil Waters	p. 44
2.4 The Gaseous Phase - Soil Air, Origin, Composition and Properties	p. 44
3 Soil Properties	p. 47
3.1 Physical Properties	p. 47
3.1.1 Colour	p. 47
3.1.2 Texture	p. 47
3.1.3 Structure	p. 47
3.1.4 Consistence	p. 48
3.1.5 Porosity	p. 49
3.2 Chemical Properties	p. 50
3.2.1 Soil Acidity (pH)	p. 50
3.2.2 Iron Exchange	p. 51
3.2.3 Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC)	p. 52
3.2.4 The Interaction of Organic Soil Matter with Mineral Components	p. 53
3.2.5 Oxidation-Reduction Status	p. 55
4 Soil Types and Classification	p. 57
4.1 The Soil Taxonomy System - Criteria of Classification	p. 57
4.1.1 Morphological Criteria of Classification in the Soil Taxonomy System (Diagnostic Horizons)	p. 57
4.1.2 Description of the Environmental Criteria of Classification	p. 60
4.1.3 Description of the Chemical Criteria of Classification	p. 62
4.1.4 Categories of the Taxonomy System Based on the Criteria of Classification	p. 63
4.1.5 The Soil Orders of Taxonomy	p. 63
4.2 The FAO-UNESCO Soil Classification System	p. 88
4.2.1 Description of the Reference Soil Groups of the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB)	p. 88
4.2.2 Relation Between the WRB System and the USDA Taxonomy System	p. 92
4.3 Other Systems of Classification	p. 92
Examples of National Systems	p. 93
5 Soil Degradation	p. 95
5.1 Soil Degradation and Soil Quality	p. 95
5.1.1 Biological Indicators of Soil Quality - Soil Respiration Rates	p. 95
5.1.2 Physical Indicators of Soil Quality	p. 96
5.1.3 Chemical Indicators of Soil Quality	p. 98
5.2 Physical Soil Degradation	p. 100
5.2.1 Soil Erosion	p. 100
5.2.2 Soil Compaction	p. 105
5.2.3 Soil Crusting and Sealing	p. 108
5.3 Chemical Soil Degradation	p. 110
5.3.1 Acidification	p. 110
5.3.2 Salinization and Sodification	p. 112
Part II Soil Pollution	p. 115
6 Major Types of Soil Pollutants	p. 117
6.1 Heavy Metals and Their Salts	p. 117
6.1.1 Heavy Metals and the Soil System	p. 121
6.1.2 Transport of Heavy Metals within the Soil System	p. 121
6.1.3 Bioavailability of Heavy Metals	p. 122
6.1.4 Biochemical Effects of Heavy Metals	p. 123
6.1.5 Major Environmental Accidents Involving Pollution by Heavy Metals	p. 124
6.2 Other Inorganic Pollutants	p. 127
6.3 Radionuclides	p. 128
6.3.1 Speciation and Behaviour of Radionuclides in the Soil System	p. 129
6.3.2 Uptake of Radionuclides by Plants	p. 131
6.4 Nuclear Debris from Weapon Tests and Belligerent Activities	p. 131
6.5 Nuclear Debris from Major Nuclear Accidents	p. 133
7 Sources of Soil Pollution	p. 137
7.1 Pollutants of Agrochemical Sources	p. 137
7.1.1 Insecticides	p. 139
7.1.2 Herbicides	p. 144
7.1.3 Fungicides	p. 146
7.1.4 Fuel Spills in Farms	p. 147
7.2 Soil Pollutants of Urban Sources	p. 147
7.2.1 Power Generation Emissions	p. 148
7.2.2 Soil Pollution through Transport Activities	p. 148
7.2.3 Soil Pollution by Waste and Sewage Sludge	p. 151
7.3 Soil Pollution through Chemical Warfare	p. 153
7.3.1 Pollutants, Toxic Chemicals, and Chemical Weapons	p. 155
7.3.2 Soil Pollution by Military Activities During the Cold War	p. 162
7.4 Soil Pollution through Biological Warfare (BW)	p. 165
7.4.1 Bacteria	p. 166
7.4.2 Viruses	p. 168
7.4.3 Rickettsiae	p. 171
7.4.4 Chlamydia	p. 171
7.4.5 Fungi	p. 172
7.4.6 Toxins	p. 172
8 Pollution Mechanisms and Soil-Pollutants Interaction	p. 175
8.1 Physical Processes and Mechanisms of Pollution	p. 175
8.1.1 Adsorptive Retention	p. 177
8.1.2 Nonadsorptive Retention	p. 187
8.2 Contaminants Transport	p. 189
8.2.1 Microscopic Dispersion: Molecular Diffusion	p. 190
8.2.2 Macroscopic Dispersion	p. 192
8.3 Behaviour of Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids (NAPLs) in Soils	p. 194
8.3.1 NAPLs Lighter than Water (LNAPLs)	p. 195
8.3.2 NAPLs Denser than Water (DNAPLs)	p. 196
9 Pollutants' Alternation, Transformation, and Initiation of Chemical Changes within the Soil	p. 199
9.1 Processes Related to Chemical Mobility	p. 199
9.1.1 Immiscible Phase Separation	p. 199
9.1.2 Acid-Base Equilibrium	p. 200
9.1.3 Dissolution-Precipitation Reactions	p. 202
9.2 Chemical Transformation Processes	p. 202
9.2.1 Hydrolysis	p. 206
9.3 Biodegradation and Biologically Supported Transformations	p. 206
9.4 Enzymatic Transformations: A Primer on Enzymes, Their Types and Mode of Action	p. 207
9.4.1 The Hydrolases	p. 209
9.4.2 The Transferases	p. 211
9.4.3 The Oxidoreductases	p. 216
9.4.4 The Lyases	p. 218
9.4.5 The Ligases	p. 218
9.5 Transformations Assisted by Bacterial Action	p. 219
9.5.1 Sulphur Bacteria	p. 220
9.5.2 Nitrifying Bacteria	p. 221
9.5.3 Iron Oxidising Bacteria	p. 222
9.5.4 Methane Oxidising Bacteria	p. 222
9.5.5 Hydrogen Bacteria	p. 222
Part III Monitoring of Soil Pollution	p. 223
10 Monitoring and Monitoring Plans	p. 225
10.1 Site Characterisation	p. 226
10.2 Data Acquisition	p. 227
10.2.1 Sampling-Planning and Realisation	p. 228
10.2.2 Sampling Procedures	p. 229
10.3 Field and Laboratory Investigations	p. 234
10.3.1 Investigation of Solid Matter	p. 234
10.3.2 Investigation of Solid Solution	p. 235
10.4 Monitoring of Groundwater Flows	p. 237
10.4.1 The Different zones of Groundwater	p. 237
10.4.2 Monitoring Flow Directions	p. 238
10.4.3 Monitoring Hydraulic Heads	p. 239
10.4.4 Measuring Hydraulic Heads in the Vadose Zone	p. 240
11 Biological Monitoring	p. 241
11.1 Planning and Implementation of Biological Monitoring	p. 242
11.2 Foliage Sampling and Investigation	p. 243
11.3 Chemical Investigation of Foliage	p. 243
11.4 Sampling and Investigation of Litterfall	p. 243
Part IV Modelling of Soil Pollution	p. 245
12 Models and Their Construction	p. 247
12.1 Types of Models	p. 248
12.1.1 Space Analogue Models	p. 248
12.1.2 Mathematical Modelling of Fluid Flows in Soil	p. 252
Part V Soil Remediation	p. 263
13 Planning and Realisation of Soil Remediation	p. 265
13.1 Categories of Pollutants	p. 265
13.2 Scale of Pollution	p. 266
13.3 Risk Level	p. 267
13.4 Remediation Technologies	p. 267
13.4.1 Chemical and Physical Remedial Techniques	p. 269
13.4.2 Biological Treatment (Bioremediation)	p. 273
13.4.3 Solidification/Stabilisation Methods	p. 279
13.4.4 Thermal Treatment	p. 280
References	p. 283
Index	p. 301

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Table of Contents