Soil, a sponge for pollutants
Résumé
This preface of the special issue entitled "Soil Pollutants" (Analusis Magazine 25, M16-M72, 1997) highlights major basic and applied issues about the sources and fate of organic, mineral and radioactive pollutants in soils. Soils have long been considered as a closed and inert medium where wastes can be dumped without impact on living organisms. This is false and we know now that soils play a vital role in ecosystems. Pollution sources are diverse and numerous. Toxic compounds are either of anthropogenic or natural origin, e.g. heavy metals occur at high levels both in some industrial soils and in some pristine rocks. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons occur also in most ecosystems as a result of natural and anthropogenic processes. One of the key issue of understanding the fate of pollutants is the occurrence of bound residues. Bound residues are pollutants, or their degradation products, that are bound to organic and mineral matter such as humic substances. Here, the degree of binding will rule the availability of pollutant, and, in turn, will control their toxicity and release in water and atmosphere. Knowledge on bound residue is still scarce despite numerous studies involving 14C-labelling of pesticides. Remediation of contaminated soils involves physical, chemical and biological methods.
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