Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Urban soil pollution in Türkiye: a review of potentially toxic elements, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and microplastics in major cities

This review summarizes the state of urban soil pollution in major Turkish cities, focusing on toxic metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and microplastics. Researchers found that cadmium and lead frequently exceeded national soil quality limits, microplastics were most abundant in parks and along roadsides, and pollution hotspots concentrated around industrial areas and traffic corridors. The study highlights the need for more systematic monitoring to develop effective soil management and remediation strategies.

2025 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Characterization of Microplastics and Associated Heavy Metals in Urban Soils Affected by Anthropogenic Littering: Distribution, Spatial Variation, and Influence of Soil Properties

Researchers sampled soils across residential, commercial, and industrial land-use types in urban areas and found microplastics in every location, with polypropylene, polyethylene, and polyamide as the dominant polymer types, at concentrations up to 850,000 particles per kilogram. Heavy metals were also associated with the plastic particles, meaning microplastics in urban soil may serve as combined carriers of chemical toxicants. The findings highlight urban soil as a major but underappreciated reservoir of microplastic pollution.

2023 Soil and Sediment Contamination An International Journal 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Potentially Toxic Trace Elements in the Urban Soils of Santiago de Compostela (Northwestern Spain)

Scientists measured potentially toxic metals (copper, lead, zinc, nickel, chromium, arsenic) in urban soils across the city of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, finding elevated concentrations in areas with heavy traffic and industrial activity. The study highlights how urban land use drives heavy metal contamination, which often co-occurs with microplastic pollution.

2021 Applied Sciences 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Magnetic Particles Weight as an Indicator for Heavy Metals Concentration

Researchers tested whether the mass of magnetic particles in soil could serve as a proxy indicator for heavy metal contamination in urban environments. Magnetic particle content correlated with concentrations of lead, zinc, and other metals from traffic and industrial sources. While not focused on microplastics, urban heavy metal contamination often co-occurs with microplastic pollution from the same traffic and industrial sources.

2021 Letters in Applied NanoBioScience 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Characterization of microplastic, metals associated and ecological risk assessment in the topsoil of shiraz metropolis, south west of Iran

Researchers surveyed topsoil across the city of Shiraz, Iran and found microplastics in all sample types, with urban soils containing roughly three times more particles than industrial or agricultural soils. Fragments and small particles between 100 and 250 micrometers were the most common forms detected. The study also found that metals like lead, zinc, and copper tend to accumulate on microplastic surfaces, potentially increasing the ecological risk these particles pose.

2023 Chemosphere 21 citations
Article Tier 2

Advances in Studies on Heavy Metals in Urban Soil: A Bibliometric Analysis

This bibliometric analysis maps two decades of research on heavy metal contamination in urban soils, identifying key trends, leading researchers, and priority topics. The field has grown significantly, with focus areas including pollution source identification, health risk assessment, and the use of environmental magnetism techniques. While centered on heavy metals rather than microplastics, the research is relevant because microplastics in urban soil often carry and concentrate heavy metals, creating combined pollution that threatens human health.

2024 Sustainability 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Coexistence of microplastics and heavy metals in soil: Occurrence, transport, key interactions and effect on plants

This review examines how microplastics and heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and arsenic interact in soil, often creating combined toxic effects on plants that differ from either pollutant alone. These interactions are relevant to human health because contaminated crops can transfer both microplastics and heavy metals to people through the food supply.

2024 Environmental Research 57 citations
Article Tier 2

The spatial distribution of microplastics in topsoils of an urban environment - Coimbra city case-study

Researchers mapped microplastic contamination across urban soils in Coimbra, Portugal, comparing samples from parks, roadsides, and other land uses. They found microplastics in all soil samples, with higher concentrations in areas with more human activity and artificial surfaces. The study demonstrates that urban soils are significant reservoirs of microplastic pollution and that land use patterns strongly influence contamination levels.

2022 Environmental Research 89 citations
Article Tier 2

Characterization of microplastics and the association of heavy metals with microplastics in suburban soil of central China

Microplastics in suburban soils of central China were characterized across three land-use types, with woodland containing the highest concentrations (4.1×10³ particles/kg) and 81.7% of particles under 100 μm, while XRF analysis confirmed heavy metals were enriched on plastic surfaces compared to surrounding soil. The study confirms that smaller microplastics are the dominant form and can act as carriers for heavy metal contamination in urban-adjacent soils.

2019 The Science of The Total Environment 572 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in soils with contrasting texture, organic carbon and mineralogy: changes in cadmium adsorption forms and their mobility in soil columns

This study investigated how high-density polyethylene microplastics alter the behavior of cadmium — a toxic heavy metal — in soils with different textures, organic carbon contents, and mineral compositions. Using soil column experiments, researchers found that microplastics changed how cadmium binds to soil particles and how easily it leaches downward, with effects varying depending on the soil type and microplastic particle size. Since cadmium is a known carcinogen and agricultural soils commonly contain both microplastics and heavy metals, understanding their interactions is critical for food safety.

2025 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Accumulation Characteristics and Pollution Evaluation of Soil Heavy Metals in Different Land Use Types: Study on the Whole Region of Tianjin

Researchers analyzed heavy metal accumulation across different land use types throughout Tianjin, China, finding that pollution levels and spatial distribution varied significantly by land use, with industrial and traffic-related activities identified as primary contamination sources.

2022 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 25 citations
Review Tier 2

Urban Soils and Road Dust—Civilization Effects and Metal Pollution—A Review

This review examined how urbanization changes soil structure, composition, and metal pollution, covering compaction, sealing, contamination from traffic and industry, and the accumulation of platinum group metals from catalytic converter wear — with examples drawn from cities on multiple continents.

2020 Environments 86 citations
Article Tier 2

An Investigation of Microplastic Occurrence and Heavy Metals Concentrations in Street Dust on the Left Side of Mosul City, Iraq

Street dust collected from Mosul, Iraq contained microplastic particles across residential, commercial, and industrial zones, alongside elevated concentrations of heavy metals. The co-occurrence of microplastics and toxic metals in urban dust is a concern for human health, as both can be inhaled or ingested by city residents, particularly children.

2024 Journal of Ecological Engineering 3 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Behaviour, ecological impacts of microplastics and cadmium on soil systems: A systematic review

This systematic review examines how microplastics and cadmium interact in soil, finding that they can make each other more harmful. Microplastics can carry toxic cadmium further through soil and increase its uptake by plants, which could mean more heavy metal contamination in the food we eat.

2024 Environmental Technology & Innovation 25 citations
Article Tier 2

[Effects of Microplastics on the Leaching of Nutrients and Cadmium from Soil].

A soil column experiment showed that polystyrene and polylactic acid microplastics at varying concentrations affected how nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) and the heavy metal cadmium leach out of soil during simulated rainfall. Higher microplastic concentrations generally altered leaching patterns, raising concerns that microplastic contamination in agricultural soils could change nutrient availability for crops and increase the mobility of toxic heavy metals into groundwater.

2024 PubMed 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Urban Soils From Different Land Use Activities of Cyberjaya (Malaysia): Exploring Occurrence, Relationships, Sources and Pollution Level

Researchers surveyed urban soils across five different land uses in Cyberjaya, Malaysia, and found microplastics in all of them, with construction areas showing the highest concentrations. The types of plastic particles varied by location, suggesting that the sources and characteristics of soil microplastic contamination depend on what activities take place in that area.

2024 Land Degradation and Development 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Distribution of microplastics in (sub)urban soils of Serbia and Cd, As, and Pb uptake by Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik

Researchers surveyed urban and suburban soils in Serbia and found widespread microplastic contamination that influenced how plants absorb heavy metals like cadmium, arsenic, and lead. The presence of microplastics in soil altered the availability of these toxic metals to the medicinal plant shepherd's purse. The study highlights that microplastics can change how other pollutants move through the soil-plant system, potentially affecting both ecosystem and human health.

2024 Chemosphere 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Insight into the interactions between microplastics and heavy metals in agricultural soil solution: adsorption performance influenced by microplastic types

Environmental-simulating microplastics (aged under environmental conditions) showed higher cadmium and chromium adsorption capacity than commercial microplastics in agricultural soil solutions, with surface oxidation increasing adsorption—suggesting that aged microplastics are more effective co-transporters of heavy metals in contaminated agricultural soils.

2025 Environmental Science Processes & Impacts 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution in soil: a case-study from the Raffaele Viviani public park in Naples, Italy

This field study characterized microplastic contamination in soil samples from a public park in Naples, Italy, finding diverse polymer types at concentrations indicating that urban green spaces accumulate significant microplastic loads from atmospheric deposition and visitor activity.

2024
Article Tier 2

Effect of Microplastics on the Adsorption and Desorption Properties of Cadmium in Soil

Polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics were found to reduce soil's capacity to adsorb cadmium, a toxic heavy metal, raising concerns that microplastic contamination in farmland soils could increase the mobility and risk of heavy metal pollutants.

2022 Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Heavy Metal Contamination in Urban Soils: Health Impacts on Humans and Plants: A Review

This review examines how heavy metals from factories, vehicle emissions, and improper waste disposal accumulate in urban soils and affect human health. Exposure to these contaminated soils has been linked to breathing problems, brain disorders, and general toxicity. The findings highlight the need for soil monitoring and cleanup strategies to protect city residents.

2024 European Journal of Theoretical and Applied Sciences 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Interaction of Heavy Metals with Plastic Contaminated Soil

This study reviews and investigates how microplastic contamination in soil interacts with heavy metals, finding that plastic particles alter soil behavior and can change how toxic metals move through and bind to soil. Because microplastics increase soil permeability and adsorb metals, their presence in landfills and near industrial sites raises concern about groundwater contamination from combined plastic and metal pollution.

2023 IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Impacts of microplastics and urbanization on soil health: An urgent concern for sustainable development

Researchers reviewed how microplastics and urbanization together degrade soil health — disrupting soil biology, contaminating food chains, and creating compounding risks beyond what either factor causes alone. The study calls for urgent management strategies including reducing plastic use, sustainable urban planning, and active soil restoration.

2024 Green Analytical Chemistry 39 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessing the Impact of Soil Humic Substances, Textural Fractions on the Sorption of Heavy Metals (Cd, Pb)

Researchers assessed how soil humic substances and textural fractions influence the sorption of cadmium and lead in different Slovak soil types. The study found that the type and quantity of humic materials significantly affect heavy metal retention, which is relevant to understanding how contaminants interact with soil-bound microplastics.

2024 Applied Sciences 12 citations