Phytostabilization as Soil Remediation Strategy
Heavy metals are natural components of the terrestrial ecosystem. However, soils could become contaminated by the accumulation of heavy metal mixtures as a result of human activities. One of the most important concerns associated with heavy metals is thei
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Phytostabilization as Soil Remediation Strategy Agustina Branzini and Marta S. Zubillaga
10.1
Anthropogenic Pollution with Heavy Metals
Heavy metals are natural components of the Earth’s crust, being ubiquitous in low amounts in terrestrial ecosystem. High natural levels of metals originating from geological processes are occasionally found, but in many terrestrial ecosystems the concentration of several heavy metals has reached toxic levels as a consequence of anthropogenic activities (Zhang et al. 2005). Fifty-three elements fall into the category of heavy metals to date, and heavy metals are defined as the group of elements whose densities are higher than 5 g cm3 and are recognized as environmental contaminants in industrialized societies (Padmavathiamma and Li 2007). Diffuse and point pollution of soils by heavy metals is a major environmental problem worldwide (Kumpiene et al. 2006). In particular, soils could become contaminated by the accumulation of heavy metals and metalloids through emissions from the rapidly expanding industrial areas, mine tailings, disposal of high metal wastes, leaded gasoline and paints, land application of fertilizers, animal manures, sewage sludge, pesticides, wastewater irrigation, coal combustion residues, spillage of petrochemicals, and atmospheric deposition (Khan et al. 2008; Zhang et al. 2010) (Fig. 10.1). One important effect of heavy metals in the soil from anthropogenic sources is that they tend to be more mobile and bioavailable than those from pedogenic or lithogenic ones (Kaasalainen and Yli-Halla 2003). Soil pollution caused by metals is somewhat different from air or water pollution, because heavy metals persist in soil much longer than in other compartments of the biosphere (Lasat 2002). In general, soil heavy metal contamination might pose direct or indirect risks to humans and the ecosystem through ingestion or contact with contaminated soil, the food chain (soil–plant–human or
A. Branzini (*) • M.S. Zubillaga Department of Fertility and Fertilizers, School of Agronomy, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina e-mail: [email protected] D.K. Gupta (ed.), Plant-Based Remediation Processes, Soil Biology 35, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-35564-6_10, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
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Fig. 10.1 Contamination sources of the soil–plant–animal system
soil–plant–animal–human), drinking of contaminated groundwater, reduction in food quality (safety and marketability) via phytotoxicity, reduction in land usability for agricultural production causing food insecurity, and land tenure problems (Ling et al. 2007). In fact, one of the most important problems of heavy metals’ contamination, related with their nondegradable condition, is that their accumulation in the food chain will have a significant effect on human health in the long term (Gleyzes et al. 2001). In an ecological research, any metal or metalloid that causes environmental problem, which cannot be biologically degraded, should be considered as a heavy meta
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