The oxides are then transported throughout the atmosphere. When the oxides make contact with the water, a chemical reaction happens. For the examples, when combined with water the oxides form carbonic acids, nitric acid and sulfuric acid. This means that the pH of rain is lower and the acidity is higher. Acid rainfall is harmful to forests, lakes, streams, buildings and other objects and can cause certain health problems.
In chemical degradation there is loss of nutrients that reduces the capacity of the soil to to support plant growth and crop production. Chemical degradation also causes salinisation, acidification, soil pollution and fertility decline in the soil. The causes of this type of degradation involve a wide variety of industrial and agricultural
Soil pH governs the availability of many elements that are essential for, or toxic to, plant growth. It is a determination of the hydrogen (H+) activity (effective concentration) in solution and it also measures the intensity of acidity or alkalinity in a sample of soil. (K.Peverill, et all, 1999) Plants often differ in their response when grown on soils with extreme pH value. 2.3 Mineral nutrition in
Acid rain makes waters acidic and causes them to absorb the aluminum that makes its way from soil into lakes and streams. This combination makes waters toxic to crayfish, clams, fish, and other aquatic animals. Some species can tolerate acidic waters better than others. However, in an interconnected ecosystem, what impacts some species eventually impacts many more throughout the food chain—including non-aquatic species such as birds. Acid rain also damages forests, especially those at higher elevations.
Soil pollutants have an adverse effect on the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil and reduce its productivity. Pesticides, fertilizers, organic manure, chemicals, radioactive wastes, discarded food, clothes, leather goods, plastics, paper, bottles, tins-cans and carcasses- all contribute towards causing soil pollution. Metals like iron are present in industrial wastes and reach the soil either directly with water or indirectly through air. (Example, through acid rain). The improper and continuous use of herbicides, pesticides and fungicides to protect the crops from pests, fungi etc.
Effect Of Soil Salinity On Plants : The growth of plant is inhibited by the salt when the salt concentration is high then the salt tolerant of plants and in the region of root soil. The soil salinity affects negatively on the growth, physiology and yield of crops. Soil salinity causes plant stress in two ways: (1) Making water uptake by the roots more difficult, and (2) Causing plant toxicity via accumulation of high salt concentrations in the
Not only does it affect plants, but it also impacts our food and water supplies. Soil can become infertile due to a physical or chemical problem in the soil that impedes the growth of the plant. Soil with a poor physical structure can limit a plant 's access to oxygen and water, while chemical problems happen due to an imbalance in the naturally occurring elements in the soil. An excess of acidic materials in the soil can also make it infertile even though it has enough nutrients to make a plant grow. Too much salt in the soil doesn’t allow plants to absorb water and depreciates the physical structure of the soil which may make the soil infertile.
Various industries like explosives, paints and dyes, pesticides contain copper in their effluent. FIGURE 1.2: COPPER CONTAMINETED WATER 1.1.3 Effects of Copper Copper pollution can is occurred in many different ways, either directly or indirectly. Copper contamination can be happen by different industries like dye and dye intermediates, petrochemical industries, and mainly from electroplating industries. Accumulation of heavy metals in agricultural soils by irrigation of wastewater can cause the soil contamination. And this heavy metals uptake by crops and it can decrease the quality of food.
The above ground components, such as leaves and stems, absorb some of the energy of falling raindrops, running water and wind, so that less is directed at the soil, whereas the below-ground components, comprising the root system, contribute to the mechanical strength of the soil (Morgan, 2005). Interdependency is therefore established between the vegetation cover, whereby the cover increases the soil resistance to erosion, which collectively is termed erodibility. An experiment demonstrating the effect of vegetation cover known as the mosquito gauze experiment was conducted by Hudson and Jackson (1959). Soil loss was measured from two identical bare plots on a clay loam soil. Over one plot, a fine wire gauze was suspended, which had the effect of breaking up the force of the raindrops, absorbing their impact and allowing the water to fall to the ground from a low height as a fine spray; the mean annual soil loss over a ten year period was 126.6 t ha-1 for the open plot and 0.9 t ha-1 for the plot covered by gauze (Morgan, 2005).
Several efforts have been made over recent years to maintain a safe and clean environment. However, environmental pollution is getting worst and poses a major threat to the Earth. Environmental pollution is “the contamination of the physical and biological components of the Earth to such an extent that normal environmental processes are adversely affected” (Kemp, 1998, p. 129). There are five known pollution which is in the form of air, water, land, noise and light (refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1). The first type of pollution is air pollution.