Papers

61,005 results
|
Article Tier 2

Paving the way toward soil safety and health: current status, challenges, and potential solutions

This review examines the global threats to soil health from industrial chemical contamination and explores potential solutions including monitoring, advanced remediation technologies, and holistic soil management. While covering soil pollution broadly, it is relevant to microplastics because they are a major and growing soil contaminant that is extremely difficult to remove once introduced. The review emphasizes that preventing pollutants from entering soil is far more effective and less costly than trying to clean up contamination afterward.

2024 Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering 15 citations
Article Tier 2

A review of microplastics in soil: Occurrence, analytical methods, combined contamination and risks

This review provides a comprehensive overview of microplastic pollution in soil ecosystems, covering sources, detection methods, and ecological impacts. Researchers found that soils are major reservoirs for microplastics, and the study highlights how combined contamination with other pollutants like heavy metals and pesticides may amplify risks to soil organisms and food safety.

2022 Environmental Pollution 75 citations
Article Tier 2

Challenges of monitoring contaminants in soils: insights from the French experience

Scientists in France have been tracking pollution in soil for 20 years and found that newer types of contamination like microplastics, certain chemicals (PFAS), and pesticides are much harder to monitor than older pollutants. This research review shows there are still big gaps in our knowledge about what's actually in the soil around us. Understanding soil contamination better matters because polluted soil can affect the safety of our food and drinking water.

2026
Article Tier 2

Soil Contamination, Risk Assessment, and Remediation

This review covers soil contamination from various sources including agrochemicals, waste materials, and emerging pollutants like microplastics, along with methods for risk assessment and remediation. Researchers examined how human activities such as farming, waste disposal, and industrial practices contribute to soil pollution and disrupt soil fertility. The study emphasizes the need for comprehensive risk assessment frameworks that account for the complex interactions between traditional and emerging soil contaminants.

2024 IntechOpen eBooks 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Advances in analytical techniques for detecting contaminants in soils

This review examines advanced analytical tools for detecting soil contaminants — from heavy metals to emerging pollutants like PFAS, microplastics, and endocrine disruptors — emphasizing spectroscopic and chromatographic methods as essential for comprehensive soil contamination assessment.

2025 Burleigh Dodds series in agricultural science
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in soils: A comprehensive review

This comprehensive review summarizes what is known about microplastics in soil, covering their sources from agriculture, household waste, and industry, as well as how they move through and accumulate in different soil types. The review finds that current methods for measuring soil microplastics are inconsistent, making it difficult to accurately assess the true scale of contamination and its risks to food safety and human health.

2025 The Science of The Total Environment 45 citations
Article Tier 2

Migration and remediation of typical contaminants in soil and groundwater: A state of art review

This review covers four major types of soil and groundwater contaminants, including microplastics and PFAS (forever chemicals), examining how they move through the environment and what cleanup methods exist. Understanding how microplastics migrate through soil and water is important because these pathways determine how contamination eventually reaches drinking water sources and affects human health.

2024 Land Degradation and Development 43 citations
Article Tier 2

Soil pollution and remediation: emerging challenges and innovations

This perspective reviews emerging challenges in soil pollution, including contamination from heavy metals, pesticides, PFAS, and microplastics, all worsened by urbanization and climate change. Researchers highlight innovative monitoring and remediation technologies, such as advanced sensors, bioremediation, and machine learning approaches for predicting contamination patterns. The study emphasizes the need for sustainable, integrated soil management strategies to protect environmental health.

2025 Frontiers in Environmental Science 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Soil Microplastic Pollution and its Remediation: An Overview

This overview reviews the scope of microplastic pollution in soils globally, summarizing contamination sources, effects on soil ecosystems, and available remediation strategies including physical, chemical, and biological approaches to address this emerging environmental problem.

2025 Egyptian Journal of Soil Science
Article Tier 2

Environmental interactions and remediation strategies for co-occurring pollutants in soil

Researchers review how multiple pollutants — including heavy metals, pesticides, and microplastics — interact in contaminated soils, creating combined effects that are harder to remediate than any single pollutant alone. The review synthesizes current remediation strategies and identifies key knowledge gaps in understanding how co-occurring pollutants behave together, which is critical for protecting agricultural soil health and food safety.

2024 Earth Critical Zone 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental geochemistry of emerging contaminants: impacts on agroecosystem function, food security, and human health

This review examines how emerging contaminants including microplastics, PFAS, pharmaceuticals, and engineered nanomaterials threaten agricultural ecosystems and food safety. Researchers found that these pollutants persist in soil, accumulate in crops, and disrupt beneficial soil organisms, creating complex risks that are difficult to manage with current approaches. The study emphasizes the urgent need for integrated monitoring and remediation strategies to protect both food production and human health.

2026 Environmental Geochemistry and Health 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental fate, aging, toxicity and potential remediation strategies of microplastics in soil environment: Current progress and future perspectives

This review summarizes what we know about microplastics in soil, including where they come from, how they age and break down, and their toxic effects. As microplastics degrade in the environment, they can release harmful chemicals and help transport other pollutants like heavy metals through the food chain to humans. The paper also explores cleanup strategies, though effective large-scale solutions remain a challenge.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 60 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging Pollutants in Soil and Water: Sources, Risks, and Advances in Removal Technologies for Sustainable Management

This review provides a broad overview of emerging pollutants in soil and water, including pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and microplastics, examining their sources, environmental persistence, and potential health effects. Researchers evaluated various removal technologies ranging from conventional methods to advanced approaches like nanofiltration and bioremediation. The study emphasizes the need for integrated management strategies that combine multiple treatment methods to effectively address these widespread contaminants.

2025 Environmental Management 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Understanding the effects of Microplastics and persistent organic pollutants' on soil ecosystem services supply

This research review shows that tiny plastic particles (microplastics) and long-lasting chemical pollutants are harming soil in ways that threaten human wellbeing. These pollutants damage soil's ability to grow healthy food, prevent floods, filter water, and support the plants we depend on for medicine and other resources. When soil gets polluted, it creates a chain reaction that reduces food production and makes our environment less able to protect us from natural disasters.

2026
Article Tier 2

Imperfect but Hopeful: New Advances in Soil Pollution and Remediation

This review examines recent advances in understanding and remediating soil pollution, acknowledging that while progress has been made, current approaches remain imperfect and require continued innovation. Researchers synthesized findings across chemical, biological, and physical remediation strategies, highlighting promising developments alongside persistent limitations in treating complex contaminated soil environments.

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

Microplastics in soils: A comparative review on extraction, identification and quantification methods

This review compares the various methods scientists use to extract, identify, and measure microplastics in soil, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Soil is a particularly challenging material to work with because its organic matter and complex structure can interfere with accurate microplastic detection. The authors recommend combining multiple techniques and minimizing harsh chemical steps that could accidentally destroy the very plastic particles being measured.

2025 Journal of Environmental Management 22 citations
Article Tier 2

How microplastics are destroying soil and human health

This review examined how microplastics harm soil health — disrupting soil structure, water retention, microbial communities, and nutrient cycling — and how soil degradation translates into risks for human health through food and water contamination. It argues that soil microplastic pollution deserves equivalent attention to aquatic contamination.

2024
Article Tier 2

Impact of Major Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) on Soil and Associated Health Issues

This review examines how contaminants of emerging concern, including pharmaceuticals, PFAS, and microplastics, affect soil health and pose associated risks to human well-being. Researchers found that these pollutants threaten soil fertility through mechanisms distinct from traditional contaminants, and their long-term impacts remain poorly understood. The study emphasizes the urgency of developing monitoring frameworks and remediation strategies for these emerging soil threats.

2026 Recent Advances in Food Nutrition & Agriculture
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in soil: A review on methods, occurrence, sources, and potential risk

This review summarizes what is known about microplastic contamination in soils worldwide, covering detection methods, sources, and potential risks. Microplastics are found in soils on every continent studied, though research in Africa, South America, and Oceania remains scarce. The review highlights that microplastics accumulate in soil over time and can interact with other pollutants, potentially affecting soil health and the safety of food crops.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 839 citations
Article Tier 2

Evolution and Future Path of Global Farmland Soil Pollution Remediation Over the Past Five Decades

This research review analyzed 50 years of studies on cleaning up polluted farmland and found that scientists are increasingly focused on three major threats: heavy metals, toxic chemicals, and newer contaminants like microplastics in soil where our food grows. The study shows that while we're getting better at removing heavy metals from farmland, microplastics and other emerging pollutants are becoming bigger research priorities because we're still learning how they might affect the safety of our food supply. This matters because contaminated farmland can lead to pollutants ending up in the fruits and vegetables we eat.

2026 Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management
Article Tier 2

Beneath the Surface: Unmasking the Global Crisis of Soil Pollution

This review examines soil pollution as a global crisis driven by industrial emissions, intensive agriculture, and poor waste management, covering how heavy metals, pesticides, microplastics, and emerging contaminants accumulate in soils, degrade microbial communities, reduce crop yields, and enter the food chain.

2025 Journal of Advance Agricultural Research
Article Tier 2

Removal technologies of microplastics in soil and water environments: review on sources, ecotoxicity, and removal technologies

This review covers the sources, toxic effects, and removal methods for microplastics in both soil and water environments. The authors found that while various treatment technologies exist, most are still in early stages and preventing microplastics from entering the environment in the first place may be more practical than trying to clean them up afterward. The review also notes that far fewer studies have examined microplastic toxicity in soil organisms compared to aquatic species, leaving a significant knowledge gap.

2024 Applied Biological Chemistry 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Agricultural Soils: An Emerging Threat to Soil Health, Microbial Ecology, Crop Productivity, and Food Safety

This review examines how microplastics accumulate in agricultural soils from sources like plastic mulch, sewage sludge, and atmospheric deposition. Researchers found that these particles can disrupt soil microbial communities, harm plant health, and potentially enter the human food chain. The study highlights the urgent need for mitigation strategies to address this growing but often overlooked form of pollution in farmland.

2025 International Journal of Plant & Soil Science 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution in terrestrial ecosystems: Global implications and sustainable solutions

This review examines microplastic pollution in terrestrial ecosystems, an area that has received far less attention than ocean plastic pollution despite soil being a major sink for these contaminants. The study covers how microplastics interact with other soil pollutants, affect plant growth and soil health, and discusses both policy solutions and practical removal methods to reduce the amount of microplastics that enter the food chain.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 182 citations