500+ Words Essay on Soil Pollution
Soil is a thin layer made up of organic as well as inorganic materials. These materials cover the rocky surfaces of Earth. Also, the organic portion, which is derived from the decayed remains of animals and plants. While the inorganic portion is made up of rock fragments. This portion was formed over a thousand years of chemical and physical weathering of bedrock. Productive soils are useful for agriculture in order to supply the world with the required food. So, the essay on soil pollution is guided to factors causing soil pollution and the adverse effects of soil pollution.
How does Soil Get Polluted?
Soil pollution can be defined as persistent of chemicals, salts, toxic compounds, radioactive materials, that have adverse effects on animal health and plant growth. There are many ways through which soils can get polluted. These are:
- Discharge of industrial waste into the Earth surfaces.
- Seepage through a landfill.
- Underground storage tanks getting ruptured.
- Formation of contaminated water into the soil.
- Solid waste seepage.
- Chemicals like heavy metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, solvents, and pesticides.
Causes of Soil Pollution
A soil pollutant is a factor that is used for deterioration of soil due to texture, mineral, or quality content of soil being reduced. Also, this disturbs the biological balance of the organisms dependant on the soil. Additionally, there are adverse effects of soil pollution on the growth of plants. Usually, soil pollution is caused due to the presence of man-made applications like percolation of contaminated surface water, pesticides, fuel dumping, oil dumping, etc.
Additionally, there are other activities like leaching of wastes from landfills, direct discharge of industrial wastes into the soil, etc. Also, the most common chemicals involved here are solvents, petroleum hydrocarbons, lead, pesticides, and various heavy metals. So, the phenomena occurring has a high correlation with the intensities and industrialization of chemical usage.
Some of the main causes of soil pollution are:
- Increasing use of fertilizers
- Indiscriminate use of insecticides, herbicides, and pesticides
- Dumping of solid wastes
- Deforestation
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Effects of Soil Pollution
Some radioactive pollutants from sources such as nuclear reactors, explosions, hospitals, science labs, etc. go very deep into the soil, stay there for a long time and cause soil pollution.
False agricultural practices using advanced agro-technology mean the use of enormous amounts of toxic fertilizers including herbicides, weedicides, pesticides, etc. increases soil fertility but gradually decreases soil physio-chemical and biological properties. Municipal trash heap, food processing waste, mining methods, and many more are other sources of soil pollution.
Because toxic chemicals enter the body through the food chain and disturb the entire inner body system, soil pollution is very dangerous to health. In order to decrease and limit soil pollution, the individuals particularly industrialists should follow all efficient control measures including environmental protection laws. People should promote the recycling and reuse of solid waste and maximum feasible tree plantation.
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