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Lodestone attracting some iron nails Lodestone in the Hall of Gems of the Smithsonian Lodestone attracting small bits of iron. Lodestones are naturally magnetized pieces of the mineral magnetite. [1] [2] They are naturally occurring magnets, which can attract iron. The property of magnetism was first discovered in antiquity through lodestones. [3]
Soil contamination, soil pollution, or land pollution as a part of land degradation is caused by the presence of xenobiotic (human-made) chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment. It is typically caused by industrial activity, agricultural chemicals or improper disposal of waste .
Soil salinity is the salt content in the soil; the process of increasing the salt content is known as salinization. [1] Salts occur naturally within soils and water. Salination can be caused by natural processes such as mineral weathering or by the gradual withdrawal of an ocean.
Possible sources can include weathering from soil parent materials or wind-blown salt deposition. Sodium ions are highly mobile in the soil solution and so they accumulate in the lower parts of the landscape. The dispersive portion of a soil profile is generally confined to the subsoil, where soil-forming processes concentrate clay minerals and ...
Siltation is most often caused by soil erosion or sediment spill. It is sometimes referred to by the ambiguous term "sediment pollution", which can also refer to a chemical contamination of sediments accumulated on the bottom, or to pollutants bound to sediment particles. Although "siltation" is not perfectly stringent, since it also includes ...
The ingredients for this are readily available and inexpensive: salt brine (from inland sources or from the sea) and limestone (from quarries). The worldwide production of soda ash in 2005 was estimated at 42 million tonnes, [2] which is more than six kilograms (13 lb) per year for each person on Earth. Solvay-based chemical plants now produce ...
Diorama of an underground salt mine in Germany. Inside Salina Veche, in Slănic, Prahova, Romania.The railing (lower middle) gives the viewer an idea of scale. Before the advent of the modern internal combustion engine and earth-moving equipment, mining salt was one of the most expensive and dangerous of operations because of rapid dehydration caused by constant contact with the salt (both in ...
Wind erosion of soil at the foot of Chimborazo, Ecuador Rock carved by drifting sand below Fortification Rock in Arizona (Photo by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, USGS, 1871). Aeolian processes, also spelled eolian, [1] pertain to wind activity in the study of geology and weather and specifically to the wind's ability to shape the surface of the Earth (or other planets).