Medical Geology Overview

Dear Colleagues,

The attention on the environment and its problems has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years. This is mainly due to a reinterpretation of the relationship between humans and the environment, which has favored a changed attitude toward environmental problems and has opened up new opportunities for scientific reflection. Starting from this consideration, the definition of medical geology has transformed over time from the simple “science that deals with the relationship between geological factors and health problems in humans, animals and plants” provided by the International Medical Geology Association (IMGA) to the more recent definition, “the science that deals with the influence of anthropic and geological factors on human and ecological health”, from Hasan, 2019, which also includes air, water, and soil, which are all very important in health and diseases.

Medical geology is an interdisciplinary field that explores the relationship between geological materials, processes, and human health. It investigates how geological factors such as rocks, minerals, soil, water, and air quality can affect human health, directly or indirectly, through their influence on environmental processes, exposure to toxic elements, or interactions with biological systems.

In this Special Issue, we would like to focus on knowledge around the link between geology and health human, considering a comprehensive approach that also includes the effects of human activity on geological processes. We welcome contributions with the following search directions:

• the existence of potentially harmful substances in the earth's crust and migratory processes in the living environment, which can lead to pathological changes caused by harmful substances that enter the human body;
• the effects of various trace elements from nature and human activities on the environment and human health.

Some key areas of study within medical geology include the following:

Geochemistry and Health: examining the distribution of elements and minerals in the environment and their potential impacts on human health. This includes understanding how exposure to some elements, such as arsenic, lead, antimony, chromium, or selenium, can lead to health problems.

Environmental Pollution: investigating how geological processes contribute to the release of pollutants into the environment, such as heavy metals, radionuclides, and organic contaminants, and their effects on human health.

Natural Hazards: studying geological hazards, such as earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis, and their health impacts on affected populations, including injuries, trauma, and exposure to toxic materials (e.g., fibrous minerals).

Water Quality and Health: analyzing the chemical composition of groundwater and surface water sources and how it relates to human health, including the occurrence of waterborne diseases and exposure to contaminants such as arsenic and fluoride.

Soil Science: understanding how soil properties and processes influence human health, including the presence of toxic elements in soils, soil-borne diseases, and the nutritional quality of food grown in different soil types.

Medical Mineralogy: investigating the interactions between minerals and biological systems, including the use of minerals in medicine, such as clay minerals in pharmaceuticals and therapeutic applications of mineral supplements.

Dr. Daniela Varrica
Dr. Maria Grazia Alaimo
Guest Editors

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• medical geology
• geochemistry
• public health
• environmental science
• toxic elements
• epidemiology
• toxicology