Soil environments restoration

The plant-microbe symbiosis may help facilitate the effective use of inoculants. For example, developed (brady)rhizobial strains or root-colonizing pseudomonads may be more effectively introduced into a contaminated soil environment when they are applied in conjunction with theirplant host. Kingsley etal. (1994) showed that inoculation of soil with a 2,4-D-degrader protected germinating seeds from the herbicidal effects of residual pesticide. Thus, plants may be used to help restore treated soils that contain residual but biologically active compounds. 

Risk assessment, management, and restoration of soil environments 33... 

Furthermore, abiotic and biotic reactions are not independent but rather, interactive processes in soil environments. Interactions of abiotic and biotic processes are thus very important in governing the dynamics and fate of metals and metalloids in soils, especially at the soil-root interface. Abiotic and biotic interactions in the rhizosphere in influencing the stabilization of contaminants and the efficacy of ameliorants need to be investigated. The impact of physical, chemical, and biological interfacial interactions on risk assessment and management of metal and metalloid contamination and restoration of ecosystem health merits close attention. 

As a recognition of the importance of biophysico-chemical processes of metals and metalloids in soil environments, we initiated the first volume of the lUPAC—Wiley book series Biophysico-Chemical Processes in Environmental Systems. This volume, which consists of 15 chapters, is organized into three parts Fundamentals of Biotic and Abiotic Interactions of Trace Metals and Metalloids with Soil Components Transformations and Dynamics of Metals and Metalloids as Influenced by Soil—Root—Microbe Interactions and Speciation, Mobility, and Bioavailability of Metals and Metalloids and Restoration of Contaminated Soils. 

This book, contributed by a multidisciplinary group of soil and environmental scientists, provides the scientific community with a critical evaluation of the state of the art on the fundamentals of reactions and processes of these elements in soil environments, their speciation, mobility, bioavailability, and toxicity and their impact on the development of innovative restoration strategies. The book is an... 

As we increase our knowledge and hope to learn from our past errors, it becomes important that we as a professional group servicing society continue our efforts to (1) minimize and reduce the uncontrolled and accidental release of petroleum hydrocarbons and organics into the environment, (2) improve our understanding of the overall behavior of these compounds in the subsurface, and the health risks associated with their presence, and (3) continue to develop sound strategies for the recycling, remediation, and restoration of impacted soil, water, and air. 

Remon, E., Bouchardon, J. L., Cornier, B., Guy, B., Leclerc, J. C., and Faure, O. (2005). Soil characteristics, heavy metal availability and vegetation recovery at a former metallurgical landfill Implications in risk assessment and site restoration. Environ. Pollut. 137, 316-323. 

Nieschmidt AK, Kim ND. 1997. Effects of mercury release from amalgam dental restorations during cremation on soil mercury levels of three new Zealand crematoria. Bull Environ Contain Toxicol 58(5) 744-51. 

J. Roed, K.G. Andersson, C.L. Fogh et al.. Triple Digging—A Simple Method for Restoration of Radioactively Contaminated Urban Soil Areas, J. Environ. Radioactivity, 45(2), 173-183 (1999). 

Soil redox potential is also critical in controlling elemental mobility. Some elements are much more soluble and mobile in one oxidation state than another (examples include Cr, Mn, Se, and others). The elements classified as chalcophiles (e.g., Hg, Cu, Pb, Cd, Zn, As, Se) form insoluble sulfide minerals in reducing environments where sulfide (S ) is generated from sulfate reduction (see Chapters 4 and 7). Mobility for chalcophiles is then extremely low unless oxidizing conditions are restored in the soil. Those elements that, in the sulfide form, have the very lowest solubility products (notably mercury, copper, lead, and cadmium) are the most Ukely to become highly immobile and unavailable in reduced soils. ... 

Missouri. In 1971, a used oil transporter sprayed oil contaminated with TCDD on riding arenas and roads In Missouri for dust control. The death of about 60 horses and Illnesses In children led to an Investigation by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Health effects were attributed to TCDD In the oil In 1974 (4). However, governmental agencies responsible for action were under the mistaken Impression that TCDD had a half-life In the environment of one year and, therefore, carried out only minimal cleanup. In 1982, this problem resurfaced when Times Beach, a community near St. Louis, was evacuated after TCDD concentrations above 1,000 ppb were detected In soil samples. Decisions on this evacuation were carried out under an atmosphere of scientific uncertainty, public emotion, and political pressures within U.S. EPA. At present, there are 43 contaminated sites In Missouri, some of which are being excavated and restored. 

The process has been used for over 25 years and this section will document one of the older pipes that was evaluated after 20 years service. The service environment that the pipehnes experience are sewer water and corrosive soils. The process is used to restore corroded steel, cast iron and concrete pipes. Steel and cast iron pipe are susceptible to corrosion by sewer water through normal acid and salt attack, and by the galvanic... 

It is axiomatic that no restoration can ever be perfect it is impossible to replicate the biogeochemical and climatological sequence of events over geological time that led to the creation and placement of even one particle of soil, much less to exactly reproduce an entire ecosystem. Therefore, all restorations are exercises in approximation and in the reconstruction of natmalistic rather than natural assemblages of plants and animals with their physical environments. ... 

The history of the world fertilizer industry can be traced to the e2irliest agriculture when man began cultivation of plants to produce food. Prior to cultivation of plants and domestication of animals, man was a hunter and. gatherer of whatever sources of food he could find in his local environment. The early farmers soon learned that some soils were more productive than others they also learned that continuous cultivation of the same land resulted in reduced yields. Some learned that the addition of manures, composts, fish, ashes, and other substances would sometimes increase yields or apparently restore productivity to fields that were considered to be "worn out. Most of these soil amendments (the first fertilizers) were discovered by trial and error, and results were unpredictable. 

---