The first comprehensive account of these important environmental interactions, this book describes the binding reactions, how they can be mathematically modelled, and how this knowledge is used to interpret environmental phenomena in soils, waters and sediments. A valuable resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, environmental scientists, ecologists and geochemists.

Humic substances, the remarkable brown biomaterials in animals, coals, plants, sediments, soils and waters, are crucial components of the carbon cycle and other life processes. Thus greater knowledge and understanding of these versatile materials is of great importance to the productivity, health and safety of the world's ecosystems, humans, land and water. Presenting the best and most recent research in this important area, this book focuses on the molecular and chemical aspects of humic substances, with sophisticated analytical, chemical and physical techniques providing vital information. Areas covered include spectroscopy, modelling, mobility, properties and analysis of humic substances. Humic Substances: Structures, Models and Functions will be welcomed by researchers and professionals in academia, industry and government agencies worldwide, particularly where the science of humic substances finds applications, such as environmental remediation and sustainable agriculture.

Humic substances occur in all kinds of aquatic systems, but are particularly important in northern, coniferous areas. They strongly modify the aquatic ecosystems and also constitute a major problem in the drinking water supply. This volume covers all aspects of aquatic humic substances, from their origin and chemical properties, their effects on light and nutrient regimes and biogeochemical cycling, to their role regarding organisms, productivity and food web organization from bacteria to fish. Special emphasis is paid to carbon cycling and food web organization in humic lakes, but aspects of marine carbon cycling related to humus are treated as well.

Within the field of soil science, soil chemistry encompasses the different chemical processes that take place, including mineral weathering, humification of organic plant residues, and ionic reactions involving natural and foreign metal ions that play significant roles in soil. Chemical reactions occur both in the soil solution and at the soil part

Environmental Geochemistry: Site Characterization, Data Analysis and Case Histories, Second Edition, reviews the role of geochemistry in the environment and details state-of-the-art applications of these principles in the field, specifically in pollution and remediation situations. Chapters cover both philosophy and procedures, as well as applications, in an array of issues in environmental geochemistry including health problems related to environment pollution, waste disposal and data base management. This updated edition also includes illustrations of specific case histories of site characterization and remediation of brownfield sites. - Covers numerous global case studies allowing readers to see principles in action - Explores the environmental impacts on soils, water and air in terms of both inorganic and organic geochemistry - Written by a well-respected author team, with over 100 years of experience combined - Includes updated content on: urban geochemical mapping, chemical speciation, characterizing a brownsfield site and the relationship between heavy metal distributions and cancer mortality

Written by a multidisciplinary group of soil and environmental scientists, Biophysico-Chemical Processes of Heavy Metals and Metalloids in Soil Environments provides the scientific community with a critical qualitative and quantitative review of the fundamentals of the processes of pollutants in soil environments. The book covers pollutants' speciation, mobility, bioavailability and toxicity, and impacts on development of innovative restoration strategies. In addition, the development of innovative remediation strategies for polluted soils is covered.

Environmental Geochemistry: Site Characterization, Data Analysis, Case Histories, and Associated Health Issues provides a wealth of information on modern geochemical methods, techniques, and procedures for those studying toxic substances found in soil, air, and water. This new edition takes an especially close look at environmental pollution and its impact on human health. The first third of the book looks at a variety of methods and procedures, such as taking groundwater samples, biological monitoring, geochemical mapping, and models of geochemical speciation. This is followed by a close look at different pollutants, including lead and pesticides. The authors conclude with several detailed case histories examining health issues resulting from environmental pollution. Environmental researchers and practitioners will return to this book again and again in their work towards understanding and reducing the environmental pollutants that affect our health. - Provides an in-depth examinations of the latest geochemical techniques and procedures - Presents a detailed analysis of various applied studies in pollution and contamination - Includes new case histories that highlight environmental pollution and related health issues

Adsorption of Metals by Geomedia, serves as a needed resource for this topic which has received much attention during the past 15 years. The book provides an in-depth review of the field, followed by numerouschapters that document the current status of adsorption research for a variety of metals by geomedia ranging from individual minerals to sediments and soils. Adsorption mechanisms are detailed and precipitation is presented as a distinct sorption process.Virtually all factors affecting the extent of metal adsorption are examined, including the effects of selected anions, competition among metals, pH, metal concentration, loading, variable metal adsorption capacity, ionic strength, hydrogen exchange and stoichiometry, and solids concentration. A variety of adsorption models are briefly presented and some are used to extend laboratory studies to field sites. The book is comprised of a collection of papers contributed by leading investigators from Canada, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the US. - Includes a wide-ranging review of the status of adsorption research and a prospectus on future research - Details all known factors affecting the extent of adsorption - Covers basic adsorption equations and interrelationships - Clearly documents experimental procedures - Presents adsorption data for eleven metals and three other elements - Uses normalization to greatly reduce apparent variability among absorbents - Provides extensive literature citations and a comprehensive index

The only book to completely define and explore the genesis, extraction, properties, and impact of humic matter on agriculture, industry, and the environment, Humic Matter in Soil and the Environment delves into the issues and controversies associated with produced and natural humic compounds. It assesses the role of humic substances in medicines, fertilizers, and industrial and pharmaceutical operations, providing characteristic visible light, infrared, ESR, NMR spectra, and electron micrographs for every humic compound. Unparalleled in scope and depth, this reference examines controversies regarding humic matter as a real or false compound and identifies trends and prospects for the future.

Effective remediation of polluted environments is a priority in both Eastern and Western countries. In the U.S. and Europe, remediation costs generally exceed the net economic value of the land. As a result, scientists and engineers on both sides of the Atlantic have aggressively tried to develop novel technologies to meet regulatory standards at a fraction of the costs. In situ remediation shows considerable promise from both technical and economic perspectives. In situ technologies that deploy natural attenuating agents such as humic substances (HS) may be even more cost effective. Numerous studies have shown humics capable of altering both the chemical and the physical speciation of the ecotoxicants and in turn attenuate potential adverse environmental repercussions. Furthermore, the reserves of inexpensive humic materials are immense. Which suggests HS portend great promise as inexpensive amendments to mitigate the environmental impacts of ecotoxicants and as active agents in remediation. To elucidate emerging concepts of humics-based remediation technologies, we organized the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW), entitled "Use of humates to remediate polluted environments: from theory to practice", held on September 23-29, 2002 in Zvenigorod, Russia (see the web-site http://www.mgumus.chem.msu.ru/arw).