Write an account of soil pollutants
Answers
Definition of Soil Pollution
Soil pollution refers to anything that causes contamination of soil and degrades the soil quality. It occurs when the pollutants causing the pollution reduce the quality of the soil and convert the soil inhabitable for microorganisms and macro organisms living in the soil.
Soil contamination or soil pollution can occur either because of human activities or because of natural processes. However, mostly it is due to human activities. The soil contamination can occur due to the presence of chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, ammonia, petroleum hydrocarbons, lead, nitrate, mercury, naphthalene, etc in an excess amount.
The primary cause of soil pollution is lack of awareness in general people. Thus, due to many different human activities such as overuse of pesticides the soil will lose its fertility. Moreover, the presence of excess chemicals will increase the alkalinity or acidity of soil thus degrading the soil quality. This will in turn cause soil erosion. This soil erosion refers to as soil pollution.
Causes of Soil Pollution
Soil pollution can be natural or due to human activity. However, it mostly boils down to the activities of the human that causes the majority of the soil pollution such as heavy industries, or pesticides in agriculture.