King Fahd University Of Petroleum and

Minerals
English Language Department (ELD)

English 102 Term Report

Soil contamination
:Student Details

Section& serial
Number

Identification Number

Student Name

11

201232120

Ali Aljaziri

Mr.Nicholas

Instructor

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Table of Contents

pages

INTRODUCTION. 3

I.

BACKGROUND...
3
a. What is "Soil contamination" ?
b. A brief history of Soil contamination

II.

CAUSES OF SOIL CONTAMINATION

..

a. Petroleum Spills
b. Industrial or Commercial Site Use
c. High Traffic Areas
III.

EFFECTS OF SOIL CONTAMINATION..

a. Health Diseases
b. Poor Growth of Plants
c. Changes in Soil Structure
IV.

SOLUTIONS...

a. Soil Washing
b. Thermal Desorption
.
...7
CONCLUSION

REFERENCES..

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INTRODUCTION

Soil is a very important part in our planet .It has many

materials that are very important to our lives and the
plant life. This Report will discuss the causes, effects and
Solutions of the Soil Contamination.

I.

BACKGROUND
This section will discuss what we mean by soil
contamination and it will have a brief history about the
subject.

a. What is Soil Contamination?

When the Soil contaminated, it can be affected badly
.Current activates on a site and nearness to pollution
sources are ways to have contaminated soil. Accidental
spills and leaks of chemicals which may have some
organic (carbon based) that can change the properties of
the Soil. (Shayler, Hanna, McBride, Harrison)

b. A Brief history of Soil contamination

Over the past 200 years of industrialization, industrials
have made a lot of problems for our planet. One of them is
soil contamination. Also, finding trace marks has lead us
to the same problem which is soil contamination.
However, during the past decades, one of the major
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causes of contamination has been the over use of

chemicals which really hurt the soil and the environment.
(Soil contamination A sever Risk for the environment and
Human Health)

II.

CAUSESES OF SOIL CONTAMINATION

In this section we are going to discuss what the causes of
the soil contamination are.

a. Petroleum Spills
Soil near to a gas station is more likely to be contaminated
because of the petroleum leaks or spills. Benzene, Toluene
and Xylene are chemicals, some components of
petroleum, which are more likely to go deep down in the
soil, so they can't be removed easily by humans and
plants. These dangerous chemicals are one of the main
causes of the soil to be contaminated. (Shayler, Hanna,
McBride, Harrison)

b. Industrial or commercial site use

Industrial and commercial site use have a bad effects on
the soil. Depending on the activities of the organizations in
that site, they might have some kinds of chemicals that
harm the environment. However, if there is no industrial or
commercial activities on that site and there is soil
contaminated, we should search in the past for previous
commercial or industrial activities which may have these
bad effects on the soil. (Shayler, Hanna, McBride,
Harrison)

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c. High Traffic Areas

The large areas which have noisy traffic are more likely
to have contaminated soil than the quite small areas
because of the high presence of some chemicals in the
cars that will effects the properties of the soil and make it
contaminated. Lead which is one of the components of oil
was used in the Gasoline until the late 1970s. Leas has a
great danger on the environment especially on soil. After
we discontinued using Lead for cars, it still appear the high
concentration of the Lead in the soil near to the nosy
traffic areas. (Shayler, Hanna, McBride, Harrison)

III.

EFFECTS OF SOIL CONTAMINATION

a. Health Diseases
Contaminated soil is really dangerous. It can enter our
bodies by three main ways: eating, inhalation and through
the skin. Some chemicals like Asbestos, Cadmium and
Dixon have bad effects on humans and can causes many
diseases. For example, Cadmium can cause liver and
kidney damage and low bone density. Also, lead has a
great danger which causes neurological damage which
lowers IQ and attention, bone deterioration and many bad
things that lead can do to the human body. (Soil
contamination: Impacts on Human Health)

b. Poor Growth of plants

With the bad effects of soil contamination on the human
body, contaminated soil has also really bad effects on
plants. The contaminators can change some of the
proprieties of plants. This will case major changes on the
metabolic process of the plants. Also, contaminated soil,
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even with relatively low concentration, can damage the

crops of the plants. For example, Legume plants have
special bacteria which are able to fix nitrogen in the soil.
However, they are very sensitive to zinc contamination, so
if they are attacked by this contaminator this may cause a
huge damage for the plant growth by affecting the
availability of Nitrogen which is very important to the
plant. (Shayler, Hanna, McBride, Harrison)

c. Changes in Soil structure

Contaminated soil may change the soil properties and that
will damage the soil health. Some kinds of the soil
contaminators are able to change the soil chemistry and
impact organisms. Changing the soil structure will harm
the animal health and the microbial processes. The level
of contamination and the sensitivity of the organism on
that area will determine the level of contamination.
(Shayler, Hanna, McBride, Harrison)

IV.

SOLUTIONS OF SOIL CONTAMINATION

There are many great ways to solve this problem by soil
remediation. Soil remediation is a process to make the
soil clean by purifying and revitalizing it. There are two
main ways to remediation thee soil.

a. Soil Washing
Soil washing is a good method to remove the
contaminations from the soil by surfactants and water.
Either by dissolving or suspending pollutants, soil particles
will be taking apart by these processes. However, soil
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washing has many living microorganisms which can

destroy the chemicals, which are contaminated the soil,
and separate them from the soil to have clean the soil.
Bacteria and Fungi are two will-known microorganisms
that are in use for breaking down organic pollutants in the
soil. (Cooper, Savannah)

b. Thermal Desorption
Thermal Desorption is the best way and the most effective
way to solve this problem. Many burned areas have the
ability to get back the hydrocarbons. However, Thermal
desorption has two main processes. Firstly, it heats the
complex contaminators until the boiling point of them. By
vaporing these contaminators, the second process begin.
It deals with the vapor either by destroying the IT or
condensed in a vapor recovery unit (VRU). (Cooper,
Savannah)

CONCLUSION
Soil contamination is a dangerous problem. It can cause
many disasters to the world. It can bring many diseases to
humans and it may effects life of the plants and animals.
However, there are many causes of soil contamination
that if we tried to avoid doing some of them we may
decrease the amount of the contamination. For example,
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petroleum spills, industrial or commercial site use and

high traffic areas. However, I believe that we should find a
solution to this problem because it destroys our world. In
the meantime, we have many plants that can easily
contaminate soil. Also, there is the use of some kinds of
petroleum chemicals that may hurts the environment, so I
believe that we should reduce using materials that can
cause this problem and use the two suggested solutions to
solve the problem.

REFERENCES

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1. Cooper, Savannah . "Soil Remediation and the

Environment -- Environmental Protection." Soil
Remediation and the Environment -- Environmental
Protection. N.p., 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 3 Aug. 2014.
<http://eponline.com/articles/2013/09/19/soilremediation-and-the-environment.aspx?
admgarea=Features>.

2. Shayler, Hannah, Murray McBride, and Ellen Harrison.

"." . Cornell Waste Management Institute, 15 Apr.
2009. Web. 3 Aug. 2014.
<http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/sourcesandimpacts.pdf>
.
3. "SOIL CONTAMINATION A SEVERE RISK FOR THE
ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN HEALTH." . Institute for
Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V, 3 Oct. 2013.
Web. 3 Aug. 2014. <http://globalsoilweek.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/10/GSW_factsheet_Contaminat
ion_en.pdf>.

4. "Soil Contamination: Impacts on Human Health." .

European Commission, 6 Sept. 2013. Web. 3 Aug.
2013.
<ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/new
salert/pdf/IR5.pdf>.

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