Treatment of polluted soil
Thanks to its absorbing power, its buffer capacity, and its intense biotic activity, the soil is prone to self-treatment, or at least, is able to reduce the negative effects deriving from the presence of pollutants. Of course the soil self-treatment capacity has some limits. If pollution goes over this limit, the soil can lose its “filter” function in an irreversible way, provoking many damages. Differently from the atmosphere and water, which decontaminate quite rapidly, the soil, although it has a high self-treatment capacity thanks to chemical, physical, and biological mechanisms, keeps contaminated for a long period. It was noticed that, in order to significantly reduce the content of heavy metals in a polluted soil, the quantity of water corresponding to tens of years of rain is not sufficient. The presence of polluting compounds in the soil, especially highly toxic ones, can represent a risk for human health and for the environment, and requires reclamation activities. The reclamation of a land can be based on the inactivation or degrade of pollutants (they are transformed into less dangerous or not dangerous substances) or their removal by using chemical, physical or biological treatments. Reclamations is normally done on agricultural land and areas close to industrial zones or abandoned dumps.
Special reports
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12 April 2019
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Citizen science, research conducted by ordinary citizens
When we think of scientists, we often imagine people wearing white coats, shut up in a laboratory working with test…
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13 May 2013
Small steps, great footprints
Have you ever wondered how much space is taken up by an apple or a steak?...
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28 August 2020
The Earth seen from above: signs of fires
This image was taken by the ASTER sensor installed on the NASA TERRA satellite platform. The image was taken on…
15 July 2020
Earth viewed from above
Remote satellite sensing: what it is and what it is used for In the scientific field, the images produced by…
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13 May 2013
Small steps, great footprints
Have you ever wondered how much space is taken up by an apple or a steak?...
From the Multimedia section
Facts
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Laterite and bauxite deposits
These deposits can be observed in those tropical areas that are characterized by...
And in underground tunnels?
There are groups of terrestrial animals that eat insects, worms and other invertebrates...
What about the permafrost?
In Sub Arctic Swedish regions, some scientists studied the changes of permafrost...
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The most populated cities in the world
In the last 50 years the world population has passed from 2.5 billion to 6 billion...
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Mountains on the Earth
The different landscapes that we analysed in the previous section are distributed...
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24 February 2011
Laterite and bauxite deposits
These deposits can be observed in those tropical areas that are characterized by...
And in underground tunnels?
There are groups of terrestrial animals that eat insects, worms and other invertebrates...
-
What about the permafrost?
In Sub Arctic Swedish regions, some scientists studied the changes of permafrost...
-
The most populated cities in the world
In the last 50 years the world population has passed from 2.5 billion to 6 billion...
-
24 February 2011
Laterite and bauxite deposits
These deposits can be observed in those tropical areas that are characterized by...
-
And in underground tunnels?
There are groups of terrestrial animals that eat insects, worms and other invertebrates...
-
What about the permafrost?
In Sub Arctic Swedish regions, some scientists studied the changes of permafrost...