Pollution of the environment: types of pollution and their description

At all stages of development, man was closely associated with nature. But as the emergence and formation of an industrial society, the problem of the modern world is increasingly the pollution of the environment.

Types of pollution are quite diverse in their impact and are characterized by the danger of spreading in airspace, as well as in the water and soil.

Natural causes

There are two types of sources of harmful emissions into the atmosphere - natural and man-made. These are its main types. The pollution of the environment, the scheme of which is given below, is an important problem that needs to be addressed.

The first species is in no way connected with the activities of people and occurs according to certain laws of nature. It should be noted that the contamination of this species took place long before the emergence of mankind, so the environment with such "dregs" perfectly copes.

This is due to the fact that natural cataclysms (storms, volcanic eruptions, forest fires, decomposition of dead animals and plants) have already been laid in evolution. Natural pollution can be considered as a biological pollution of the environment. Types of pollution of this kind include, first of all, the products of vital activity of nature as a whole.

Natural pollution can be illustrated by the following examples:

Death Valley. At the foot of the volcano Kikhpinych (Kamchatka) stretches the valley, which is filled with volcanic hydrogen sulphide gases. In the absence of wind above the ground, the gas accumulates, and all animals and birds that fall into this area are killed. Scientists involved in the study of the Valley of Death not only study this phenomenon, but also purify the territory of corpses. This is necessary in connection with the fact that scavengers do not come to the valley, which can harm not only the live animal, but also spread the infection from the dead. Thus, this type of pollution has sufficiently bright signs that have similar types of environmental pollution of the environment.

"The Red Tide." On the surface of the seas a brown coating is formed, strongly resembling blood. This happens in connection with the reproduction of a certain type of algae, which by their nature are very toxic. Poisonous substances enter the food chain through the inhabitants of the sea, causing the latter to die.

There are cases when crews of ships passing through such areas received severe poisoning by eating fish caught in "poisonous" places or mollusks. Scientists associate the appearance of toxic algae with a large amount of chemical emissions in the ocean waters.

Anthropogenic sources

The saturation of nature with harmful substances by a person deserves special attention, since they are not limited to decompositions or fires due to people's fault. Classification of types of environmental pollution in this case, can be the following:

- aerosol;

- smog (photochemical mist);

- radioactive fallout;

- inorganic water pollution;

- organic;

- thermal species;

- Soil pollution;

- saturation with pesticides;

- acid rains (as a result of the relationship with the water cycle in nature).

All these methods are types of anthropogenic pollution of the environment, that is, the result of human activity.

Aerosol emissions

In the atmosphere in connection with the functioning of mankind there is a mass of impurities, which can be called technogenic dust. It is expressed in the form of fog, haze or ordinary smoke. As a result of the burning of certain substances in production, toxic fumes and carcinogenic compounds are released into the environment.

The main sources of the emergence of man-made dust are metallurgical plants, oil refineries, soot and other similar ones that use thermal processing of raw materials. Also, the main types of environmental pollution by aerosol method include the release of dust and toxic substances in the mining industry.

In the formation of artificial embankments (dumps) from overburden in the extraction of minerals in the atmosphere, a huge amount of processing results is emitted. Harmful particles are released into the environment and during blasting operations.

For example, with an explosion of average power, up to 2,000 cubic meters of carbon monoxide and about 150 tons of dust are released. During the technological processes of processing semi-finished products for cement production, a lot of chemical substances and process dust are also released into the air.

Aerosol can also be called types of environmental pollution transport. As a result of combustion of the substance (gasoline or diesel fuel), gases are released: carbon oxides, hydrocarbons and nitrogen. The duration of these mixtures in the atmosphere before their natural decomposition is from several hours to several years.

Photochemical fog

Smog is formed by combining chemically harmful emissions into the atmosphere with solar radiation energy. As a result, a photochemical reaction of nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and other harmful substances occurs.

Fog, thus, represents such a category of saturation with harmful substances, which contain the types of chemical pollution of the environment.

The chain reaction of the conversion of nitrogen dioxide to nitric oxide and atomic oxygen should result in ozone (a compound of molecular and atomic oxygen). The reaction of nitrogen oxidation by this compound should give molecular oxygen and as a result, nitrogen dioxide. However, ozone when it occurs immediately reacts with exhaust gases in the atmosphere, resulting in a certain amount of combined atoms and oxygen molecules.

This compound, reacting with impurities in the air, forms oxidants and free radicals, which are characteristic of smog. The compounds with which the air is literally soaked have an extremely negative effect on the circulatory and respiratory systems of the inhabitants, as a result of which a person may die.

Fallout

This type of pollution is the most dangerous for mankind and for all life in the world. Precipitation, which contains radioactive particles, is atmospheric moisture and dust.

The heaviest particles of radioactive elements settle immediately on the surface of the earth, the lighter ones have the property of being retained in the atmosphere and transported over fairly large distances.

Due to the water cycle in nature, radionucleotides contained in the air fall to the ground in the form of rain, snow, or fog.

When such precipitation hits the human skin, radioactive atoms penetrate into the body, destroying it gradually from within.

Inorganic types

Types of pollution of the natural environment are also represented by inorganic "methods."

In connection with the development of industry, waste is generated in the water, which is formed during the activities of factories and enterprises for the harvesting and processing of timber, in the work in mines, in mines, and as a result of the use of transport.

For example, in sewage, which then enter the water, contains a large number of synthetic detergent residues. These elements, getting into the water purification system, are not removed and returned to the water supply.

Types of chemical pollution of the environment include, in this case, contamination of sewage with compounds of elements such as cadmium, arsenic, lead, mercury and other no less dangerous substances.

These compounds are absorbed by the low-organized inhabitants of water bodies and are transmitted along the food chain to highly organized organisms.

Chemical contamination has the property to change the pH of the water to such a state that aquatic habitants can not live and reproduce in such water.

However, many invertebrates, inhabiting the water element, are able to accumulate radioactive elements and poisons. That is why they serve as an indicator of which main types of environmental pollution caused the pollution of the reservoir.

Despite the fact that water has the property of self-cleaning, due to the ingress of a large number of chemical compounds into it, organisms that provide purification are dying. Accordingly, additional methods of separation of harmful particles from water are required, but, unfortunately, this is not enough.

Organic "garbage"

Types of pollution of the environment that surrounds man, and include their organic nature. These include oil, consisting mainly of saturated hydrocarbons.

In the presence of oil stains on the water surface, the inhabitants of the seas, as well as animals and plants of the coastal zone, die.

This is due to the fact that oil, getting on fish or waterfowl, covers them with a thin black-brown film, which is why the natural streamlining of the plumage surface of birds (or fish scales) is disturbed.

Long before people learned to extract this natural resource, oil also fell on the surface of the water. However, in the seas and oceans, there are microscopic bacteria that can process "black gold" by feeding on them. Gradually, the stain from the surface disappears, and bacteria become food for highly organized creatures.

The complexity to date in the natural destruction of spots is a huge amount of oil, which spills out when tankers crash or accidents on platforms. Bacteria do not have time to process it, and the combustible substance can enter the other reservoirs with the flow, spreading across the oceans.

Thermal type

Emissions of temperature-unstable wastewater into rivers and lakes by power plants - this example illustrates a category such as types of energy pollution of the environment.

At first glance, a slight increase in water temperature should not harm the ecosystem as a whole. However, the number of such drains and the constant change and instability of the liquid temperature in reservoirs lead to an artificial limitation of water exchange between the surface and the bottom.

Since there is a violation of the cycle necessary for the rational functioning of phytoplankton and algae, the species constancy of the water structure varies.

Soil pollution

The Earth's soil is an important component of the biosphere. This shell accumulates not only organic substances, but also energy. The existence of soil as an element of the biosphere is one of the important links in its functioning. Therefore, the problems of contamination of the earth's surface by chemicals (organic and inorganic), as well as special substances (pesticides) require special attention from scientists.

Contamination with pesticides

Since special pesticides for the treatment of plants are produced and used by humans, it can be said that contamination of the soil with these elements can illustrate the types of physical pollution of the environment.

Despite the fact that this group of chemicals is an important element in agriculture for large-scale cultivation of plant foods, such poisons pose a huge danger to the soil.

Pesticides have the property of accumulating in the body into which they are trapped and, like radioactive elements, destroy human health from within, and also lead to the death of many microorganisms. Violation of the natural course of the evolutionary process occurs, among other reasons, also due to the fact that pollution of the environment is observed.

Types of pollution, which can be attributed and saturation with pesticides, cause imbalance and, as a consequence, natural selection. Through the food chain, chemicals penetrate the human body and are found not only in the internal organs of adults, but also in newborns. This means that pesticides accumulated in the process of life can be vertically transferred from mother to child.

To date, develop and test chemicals that, after application, having the necessary action, independently decompose into harmless elements. It is important to observe the order of the chemical reaction, excluding the presence of such catalysts, which could disrupt the natural course of the decomposition of harmful substances into elementary ones.

Acid rain

As a result of human functioning, a large amount of oxides of chemical elements is released into the atmosphere, which causes pollution of the environment. Types of pollution can be conditionally defined as household and industrial.

When burning combustible materials intended for domestic and industrial needs, there is a separation of oxides of nitrogen, sulfur, carbon and hydrogen sulphide. When interacting with moisture contained in the atmosphere, these mixtures degenerate into acids, which then precipitate as precipitation.

If such anomalies are threatened, extreme caution must be exercised, since acid exposure to humans, even in a small concentration, causes a chemical burn. Having fallen under acid rain, a person can not only lose part of his hair or spoil his hat, but also get a burn of the face or the whole body.

Acid, precipitating in the form of precipitation, harms not only people, but also soil, that is, causes environmental pollution. Types of pollution, which are associated with the peculiarities of water circulation in nature, cause supersaturation of land by these compounds. The soil in the future is not capable of preserving useful natural properties. In the event that vegetation appears on such soil, then taken for food, it can damage human health.

In addition, acid rainwater, penetrating deep into the ground, enters the groundwater. It is they who spread chemical compounds over long distances, which in the future can harm even those areas that are far from the area where acid precipitation has fallen out.

Noise pollution

A person can not live in absolute silence, as well as with pretty loud sounds. This imbalance changes intracranial pressure and can lead to disruption of the entire body.

In connection with these features of human nature, noise pollution of the environment can not be distinguished, which can not be seen.

The noise produced by numerous plants, machinery, trains, cars, acts on residents of large cities or people who are forced to be close to such "noisy" achievements of mankind is extremely negative.

The impact of such sounds disturbs the natural functioning of internal organs, vessels, etc., which in the worst case can lead to premature aging and death.

Methods of struggle

Types of sources of environmental pollution are quite diverse. However, it can be noted that they are all related to human activity. Some sources directly pollute the atmosphere, soil or water with poisonous substances, others - only disrupt the natural course of events in nature. In this case, the system often weakens, important food and other chains are broken, mutations occur.

Genetically modified organisms are individuals fully adapted to survival in the face of severe environmental pollution. With each attack of pesticides the cells changed so much that they (already in the future generations) could withstand the destructive effect of the strongest substances.

But do not forget that our Earth is not adapted to absorb the "conveniences" of civilization, so today no more new chemically hazardous substances are being developed, but their neutralizers.

The newest preparations or cultures of microorganisms are called not only to not do harm, but also to promote the fastest decomposition into the safe elements of those substances that are planned to be used.

Sakhalin buckwheat

Identify and use the natural properties of plants and organisms in the struggle for the purity of the planet. For example, Sakhalin buckwheat has an excellent property - it can sprout and bloom on soil that is saturated with heavy metals.

According to the results of numerous experiments, such plants can "take" from the soil up to 1 kg of cadmium, 24 kg of lead and 322 kg of zinc in one year only. And the experiment at one of the military testing grounds, where chemical weapons were tested, showed that 2 years after the buckwheat landing in the soil, the soil was completely clean.