High School Earth Science: Human Actions and the Land - Pollution of the Land — Flashcards

Land pollution refers to the deterioration of the earth's land surfaces at and below ground level. It is caused by the accumulation of solid and liquid waste materials that contaminate groundwater and soil.

Hazardous Waste and Its Effects    
Hazardous waste is any waste material that is dangerous to human health or that degrades the environment. Hazardous wastes include substances that are toxic, chemically active, corrosive, or flammable. Many different types of materials are hazardous, and there are many possible sources of hazardous wastes. Most households, for example, have substances that could become hazardous wastes if not stored and disposed of properly. These include cleaning chemicals such as drain cleaners and lawn chemicals such as herbicides. Other common sources of hazardous wastes include automotive chemicals such as motor oil and brake fluid, batteries, medical wastes, paints, dry cleaning chemicals, and agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides.    
Exposure to hazardous wastes may cause illness or even death in people or other organisms.  Fetuses, infants, and young children are more susceptible to damage by hazardous wastes because they are growing rapidly. Therefore, for their size, they tend to take in more of the toxic chemicals. However, it is important to realize that just one person with cancer is not enough to suspect contamination by hazardous wastes. Cancer occurs fairly often and has many possible causes. Contamination is suggested by more than the normal number of cancers in a particular area. This is called a cancer cluster.  
Chemicals that are especially toxic to humans are trichloroethylene, lead and mercury. Lead was once a common ingredient in gasoline and paint, but it was banned for these uses after it was shown to damage the human nervous system, especially in young children. Mercury is produced naturally in volcanic eruptions. Other sources of mercury are batteries, electronics, and the burning of coal. Like exposure to lead, exposure to mercury damages the human nervous system.