Students can go through AP State Board 9th Class Biology Notes Chapter 10 Soil Pollution and Functions to understand and remember the concept easily.
AP State Board Syllabus 9th Class Biology Notes Chapter 10 Soil Pollution
→ Our environment is composed of the atmosphere, earth and water.
→ The interaction of the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere is continuing for years together.
→ Soil is one of the marvellous products of nature and without which there would be no life.
→ Soil formation is a long and complex process and it can take 100 to 10,000years to create one inch of topsoil
→ Crop quality directly depends on the quality of the agricultural soil in which it is grown.
→ The soil properties can be divided into three major categories. Physical, chemical and biological properties.
→ Soil consists of nutrients necessary for plants growth such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
→ The pH of the soil is important in determining the type of vegetation that will grow in the soil and the type of organisms that will live there.
→ Soil is the most abundant and diverse ecosystem on the earth.
→ Soil microbes convert organic forms of elements to their inorganic forms and liberate carbon dioxide, ammonia etc., by a process known as mineralization.
→ Fertility of soil is closely associated with the properties of soil and is defined by its capacity to hold water and nutrients and supply them to plants when they need them, independent of direct application of nutrients.
→ Proper soil fertility management is very important for successful crop production and farming.
→ The waste generated from various sources can be categorized into two types like biodegradable waste and non-biodegradable waste.
→ Decomposition is the process of materials being digested and broken down into simpler substances making nutrients more available to plants.
→ Soil or land pollution can be understood as the addition of substances that adversely affect the quality of soil or its fertility.
→ On the basis of sources of pollutants, soil pollution can be classified into three categories.
- Agricultural soil pollution
- Soil pollution by industrial effluents and solid wastes
- Pollution due to urban activities.
→ A soil pollutant is any factor that deteriorates the quality, texture and mineral content of the soil or which disturbs the biological balance of the organisms in the soil.
→ Pesticides not only have a toxic effect on humans and animals but also decrease the fertility of the soil
→ The process of increasing the concentration of chemicals through the food chain is known as biomagnification.
→ Solid waste may be defined as the organic and inorganic waste produced by various activities of the society which have lost their value to the first user.
→ Solid waste on the basis of its sources of origin can be classified as municipal solid waste, hazardous solid waste and infectious solid waste.
→ Soil erosion occurs when the weathered soil particles are dislodged and carried away by wind or water.
→ Forests and grasslands are an excellent binding material that keeps the soil intact
→ Urban activities generate large quantities of city wastes including several biodegradable materials.
→ If solid waste is left uncollected and decomposed, they cause problems like clogging of drains, the barrier to the movement of water, foul smell, increased microbial activities etc.
→ To prevent soil pollution, we can limit construction in sensitive areas.
→ In general, we would need less fertilizer and fewer pesticides if we could all adopt the four R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover.
→ Incineration of wastes is expensive and leaves a huge residue and adds to air pollution.
→ Pyrolysis is a process of combustion in absence of oxygen or the material burnt under a controlled atmosphere of oxygen.
→ Bioremediation means using a biological remedy to reduce or clean up contamination.
→ We can conserve soil by planting trees, terraces, no-till farming, contour ploughing, crop rotation, soil pH, watering the soil, salinity management, soil organisms and indigenous crops.
→ Atmosphere: The gaseous envelope surrounding the earth constitutes the atmosphere.
→ Lithosphere: Solid rocky layer covering the entire surface of the planet.
→ Hydrosphere: Contains all of the earth‘s bodies of water.
→ Biosphere: All the life-supporting zones on earth are together called the biosphere.
→ Topography: It ¡s the shape or configuration of the land represented on a map by contour lines.
→ Parent material: Any type of substance or material which undergoes some process to produce another material.
→ Weathering: Breakdown of bigger rocks into smaller mineral particles.
→ Thawing: The process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid.
→ Crumb: A very small quantity of something.
→ Leaching: To be removed from soil by water passing through it.
→ Stench: A strong, very unpleasant smell.
→ Trash: Things that we throw away because we no longer want or need them.
→ Smelt: To heat and melt ore.
→ Ooze: The liquid flows from the place slowly.
→ Clog: To block or become blocked.
→ Inundate: To cover an area of land with a large amount of water.
→ Dire: Very serious.
→ Pyrolysis: It ¡s a process of combustion in absence of oxygen or the material burnt under a controlled atmosphere of oxygen.
→ Incineration: To burn substance until it is completely destroyed at high temperature.
→ Omnipresent: Present everywhere.
→ Tillage: The process of preparing and using land for growing crops.
→ Abode: Living place.
→ Gophers: Animal that lives in holes in the ground.
→ Soil fertility: The soil containing rich nutrients and is suitable for plants to grow.
→ Mineralization: It ¡s the process of converting organic forms of elements to their inorganic forms by soil microbes liberating CO2, NH3, sulphate, phosphate.
→ Biogeochemical cycle: The cycle that involves the flow of nutrients on earth from the environment to organisms and back through certain pathways are known as the biogeochemical cycle.
→ Biodegradable waste: Substances that can be degraded by microbes into harmless and non-toxic substances.
→ Non-biodegradable waste: Substances that cannot be easily degraded.
→ Soil erosion: Loss of top layers of soil by wind or water ¡s known as soil erosion.
→ Biomagnification: The process of increasing the concentration of toxic chemicals through the food chain.
→ Bioremediation: It means to use a biological remedy to reduce or clean up soil contamination.
→ Soil pollution: Soil pollution is defined as the build-up in soils of persistent toxic compounds, chemicals, salts, radioactive materials, or disease-causing agents, which have adverse effects on plant growth and animal health.
→ Organic soil: Soil that contains 30% or more organic matter (residues of dead plants and animals) is considered organic soil.
→ Abate: Reduce
→ Mycorrhiza: It is the symbiotic association that is taking place between a fungus and the roots of a plant.
→ Fragility: Easily broken or damaged.
→ Subtle: Not very noticeable.
→ In one acre of land where the topsoil is eight inches thick nearly five and a half tons of Bacteria are present. 50,000 Earthworms are also present in it.
→ James Hutton (1726 – 1797):
James Hutton: Father of Modern Georgy
- James Hutton was a Scottish geologist, physician, chemical manufacturer, naturalist and experimental agriculturalist
- Hutton‘s work established geology as a proper science, and thus he is often referred to as the father of modern geology.
- He recognized that the history of the earth could be determined by understanding how processes such as erosion and sedimentation work in the present day.
- He is also credited as the first scientist to publicly express the earth was alive and should be considered a superorganism.