Soil Pollution

Despite having been published about two years ago for the first time, the continuous demand for this book encouraged me to prepare this revised and enlarged edition. Many parts of the text have been rewritten, type errors traced and corrected, and the bibliography largely modified to include many of the references published about the subject of soil pollution in the previous ten years. I should like to express my thanks to the staff of Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, for their cooperative efforts in preparing this edition. I also would like to thank Mr. Michael Sidwell (B.A.) for the extreme but characteristic care with which he read and revised the proofs. I hope that, in this new edition, the book may continue to serve the needs of students and professionals alike interested in the subject of soil pollution. Ibrahim A. Mirsal Preface to the First Edition Whoever has enjoyed following the legendary duel between the Egyptian Pharaoh and his magicians (Alchemists) on one side, and Moses and his brother Aaron on the other, as is vividly narrated in the Bible, must have realised that people (at least those living at, or near the eternal battlefields of the Middle East) have always had knowledge about the terrible consequences of soil pollution by chemicals. This knowledge must have existed long before Moses and his Pharaoh. Nobody knows when people became aware of this, yet it must have been born in very early times, reaching back to the dawn of human conscious.

From the reviews:

"This graduate-level text treats the subjects related to the interdisciplinary fields of soil pollution and remediation. After a thorough and comprehensive introduction to the relevant fundamentals … of soil, readers are well prepared to understand the biochemical aspects of soil remediation then presented. Soil-monitoring plans, including sampling procedures, and mathematical modelling are covered in a manner enabling readers from various disciplines to acquire the scientific literacy … . it will certainly be of special interest to students and researchers in soil sciences." (International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 84 (14-15), 2004)

"This book, unique among soil literature, ‘is designed as a contribution to understanding the origins, mechanisms and consequences of the environmental setbacks brought about by soil pollution.’ It is useful for students of earth sciences, environmental sciences, and agriculture, as well for professionals of all these fields who are seeking an integration of all the isolated parts they have learned about soil pollution." (P.L. Pisani, Advances in Horticultural Science, Vol. 18 (3), 2004)

"The book is designed as a contribution to understanding the origins, mechanisms and consequences of the environmental setbacks brought about by soil pollution. The book presents a comprehensive, integrated overview of previously separately treated materials, written for students and teachers as well as for professionals from the earth, environmental and agricultural sciences." (Bulletin of the International Union of Soil Science, January, 2004)

"This book, Soil Pollution, is a contribution from a member of that wider family, from a geologist. It targets students of earth, environmental and agricultural sciences in addition to professionals in those subjects. … In general, the book is easy to read and to understand even by non-professionals. It is alsoattractively produced." (J. Agbenin, European Journal of Soil Science, Vol. 55 (3), 2004)

"This is a wide-ranging text on soil pollution. The works starts with an introduction to soils, including chapters on the origins of soils, soil constituents, properties, classification, and-importantly and unusually-soil degradation. … Overall it is a an interesting text, which presents the problems of soil pollution from a novel angle … ." (S. A. Jefferis, Geotechnique, Vol. 55 (6), 2005)

"It is one of a few recent texts to attempt to bridge the subjects of soil science and chemical contamination. … As it stands, this is a useful text for those needing to cover a wide and (previously):disparate group of subjects … likely to be mainly used (and extensively so) as a reference text in university and civic reference libraries." (Anthony R. Vann, International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2006)