Pollution and Human Impact

Most industries are dependent on extracting minerals from the Earth.the industrial waste lingers in the soil surface for a long time and makes it unsuitable for use.
Pesticides and herbicides are used in agricultural practices and these chemicals penetrate into soil and damages them.
Cutting of trees leads to soil erosion.

Radioactive substances resulting from explosions of nuclear testing laboratories and industries giving rise to nuclear dust radioactive wastes, penetrate the soil and accumulate giving rise to land/soil pollution.
Pesticides and herbicides are added in soil in agriculture practices to remove unwanted plants. these chemicals penetrate into soil and damages the soil.

The direct discharge of industrial waste into the soil causes the soil to erode and becomes useless for agriculture and any other purpose.

Industrial pollutants affect and alter the chemical and biological properties of soil.
With the advancing agro-technology, huge quantities of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and weedicides are added to increase the crop yield. 
Urban wastes comprise of both commercial and domestic wastes consisting of dried sludge and sewage.
all of them causes soil pollution.

A large number of heavy metal such as radium and thorium gets accumulated in the soil in the areas having metal smelting industries. These heavy metals decrease the fertility of soil.

Soil contamination or soil pollution as 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 pollution can be caused by the following (non-exhaustive list):

1. Oil drilling
2. Mining and activities by other heavy industries
3. Thermal power plant
4. Accidental spills as may happen during activities, etc.
5. Corrosion of underground storage tanks (including piping used to transmit the contents)
6. Acid rain (in turn caused by air pollution)
7. Intensive farming
8. Agroindustries and chemicals, such as pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers
9. Industrial accidents
10. Road debris
11. Drainage of contaminated surface water into the soil
12. Waste disposal

When the rain droplets gets mixed with nitrogen and sulfur oxide it causes acid rain. this acid rain when fall on earth react with soil because of chemicals present in acid rain, the fertility of particular area gets affected.

The industrial effluents passing through the field add toxic substances to the soil and decrease the soil fertility and its water-absorbing capacity.

Vehicles do not directly cause soil pollution. Deforestation, excessive use of fertilizers and solid wastes may cause soil pollution

Underground soil in cities is likely to be polluted by Chemicals released by industrial wastes and industrial wastes Decomposed and partially decomposed materials of sanitary wastes Many dangerous chemicals like cadmium, chromium, lead, arsenic, selenium  products are likely to be deposited in underground soil. Similarly underground soil polluted by sanitary wastes generate many harmful chemicals.These can damage the normal activities and ecological balance in the underground soil.

There are various man-made factors that create the environmental problems. These factors include air pollution, degradation of air, water contamination, over population, industrial mining, climate change, deforestation, fossil fuels, fertilizer use, etc. The natural factors responsible for environmental problems include forest fire, water vapour, frost soil, etc.

Industrial activities are a primary source of large-scale chemical leaks into ecosystems. While mining and pesticides also contribute to pollution, industries are generally cited as the most significant source of massive chemical releases.

Lead is an important pollutant of soil and atmosphere. Lead is a heavy metal and very immobile element. Hence, the lead may quickly reach very high concentrations locally. Lead is a prominent pollutant released from factories manufacturing dry cells and batteries. In the atmosphere, lead is released by combustion of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels contain lead compounds as an additive as antiknock agents. Combustion of such fuel in vehicles leads to air pollution.