Frontiers of Sustainable Remediation and Risk Assessment in Contaminated Soil
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2022) | Viewed by 3185
Special Issue Editors
Interests: source and fate of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the environment; environmental natural radioactivity; investigation of the role of soil–plant–microorganism interactions in the biogeochemical cycle of contaminants in soil; nature-based approaches for environmental remediation and agronomic challenges
Interests: environmental geochemistry; GIS applications (including modeling, probability, and uncertainty); soil protection and sustainability; water quality; contaminated land and remediation Inter-related aspects and impacts on the environment and society; ecosystem goods and services; sustainability science
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Soil contamination represents a serious threat since it may cause dramatic consequences for soil ecological function and related potential health effects. Hence, its rehabilitation represents a worldwide challenge and is becoming a key subject in post-industrial landscapes and rural areas heavily affected by the use of chemicals. However, further efforts to develop techniques for soil effective management are required.
Improving risk management and using nature-based solutions (NBS) are key points to both assess the potential adverse effects to receptors and protect and recover soil ecosystems to enhance their resilience.
With regards to the risk assessment framework, the quality of soils and the possible hazards have been commonly evaluated on the basis of total contaminant concentrations. However, performing risk evaluation by measuring total concentrations often leads to either over or underestimation of the risks.
The bioavailability of contaminants is an aspect that can also determine the success of soil remediation from an NBS perspective. This is heavily affected by the geochemical features of soils along with their biochemical profile and rhizoplane bioactivity.
Nature-based solutions are promising approaches that are inspired by nature, such as the synergistic actions of plants and microorganisms in the case of phytoremediation. They have great potential for soil improvement and conservation in a sustainable way, but to be successful they must involve the geo-bio assessment of the environment under consideration.
Given this background, we are pleased to announce a Special Issue of Sustainability with the general theme of “Frontiers of Sustainable Remediation and Risk Assessment in Contaminated Soil”.
This Special Issue will publish high-quality research papers or reviews that improve our understanding of (i) the soil biogeochemical aspects that can influence the bioavailability of contaminants and, consequently, the risk management and the remediation success, (ii) the soil–plant–microbe interactions at the metaorganism level from the soil remediation perspective, (iii) new sustainable solutions exploiting the simultaneous use of biological and georesources to enhance remediation success and reduce risk, (iv) progress and limitations of NBS in soil remediation.
Dr. Daniela Zuzolo
Prof. Dr. Marcello Di Bonito
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- soil remediation
- soil contamination risk assessment
- persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
- potentially toxic elements (PTEs)
- nature-based solutions (NBSs)
- geochemical mobility
- plant–microorganisms partnerships
- soil biogeochemistry
- phytotechnologies
