Risk Assessment of Emerging Pollutants in Soil

Dear Colleagues,

Since the industrial revolution, the global economy has advanced rapidly, while the population has also increased dramatically. Urbanization and industrialization have led to increasingly serious environmental pollution, particularly in some developing countries. Pollutants emitted by anthropogenic activities such as printing and dyeing, the chemical industry, non-ferrous metal mining and smelting, etc., enter the soil via atmospheric deposition and surface runoff, causing ecological pollution, and also enter the human body via crops, threatening human health. In recent years, emerging pollutants, including perfluorinated compounds (PFC), carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and other persistent organic pollutants (POPs), have received widespread attention due to their high stability, bioaccumulation, and ecological toxicity. Therefore, it is necessary to establish the relevant risk assessment, migration and transformation mechanism, and source apportionment system for pollution management and control.

The aim of this Special Issue is to identify and quantify anthropogenic sources that possess the potential to generate pollutants (including, but not limited to, PFC, PAHs and POPs), including industrial emissions, road construction, pesticide misuse, and domestic sewage. Changes in soil structure and function occur as pollutant concentrations increase; this is a long-term process that needs to be controlled. In addition, regarding the quantification of pollutant sources, the potential risks posed by these sources should be assessed in order to prioritize the prevention and control of factors with significant consequences. The research scope of this Special Issue also includes the transport and migration characteristics of pollutants and the feedback of pollutants in the soil. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

1. Establishment of a new, efficient model and risk assessment system for identifying sources of pollutants. Alternatively, the improvement of existing models to enhance their accuracy.
2. Assessment of the process of pollutant migration to soil and its transformation mechanism in soil, potentially also involving the response of the structure and function of soil to pollutants.
3. The characterization of the spatial and temporal variability in the pollution risk posed by pollutants to soils in a specific region. This may include the zoning of spatially compounded pollution risks for different pollutants.
4. In terms of pollutants, this includes, but is not limited to, PFC, PAHs and POPs. This topic emphasizes soil pollution, but other environmental media such as water, air, and sediment are also important.

Dr. Yan Li
Guest Editor

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• emerging pollutants
• source apportionment
• risk assessment
• migration
• spatio-temporal characteristics
• risk zoning