Heavy Metals in Soil: A Review - Abstract
Environmental contamination by heavy metals is an issue of global health concern. With the incessant rise in various anthropogenic activities: the release of various organic and inorganic contaminants has continued to rise. Some of these activities include industrialization, agricultural activities, and vehicular emissions amongst others. Amongst the various categories of pollutants, heavy metals have been identified as one of the priority groups because they pose deleterious effects on plants, animals and the environment at large. Heavy metals are not biodegraded by microbial activities; rather they persist and are transmitted along the food chain with a high degree of bioaccumulation. Although heavy metals are ubiquitous, and present in all segments of the environment, their concentrations in soil have continued to rise, since the soil acts as a natural reservoir of these metals in the environment. Hence metals from other parts of the environment usually are found within the soil. This review provides details on heavy metals. It discusses their sources, distribution and environmental and health impact on the future trends in heavy metals investigations based on recent studies