Pollution-Geo

Pollution

The term pollution refers to any change in the natural quality of air brought about by physical, chemical or biological factors.

Pollutants

Pollutants are the products which are released into the biosphere in large quantities and which affect the normal functioning of an ecosystem and have an adverse effect of plants, animals and man

Biodegradable pollutants

Pollutants which can be degraded by biological or biodegradable action.

Non-biodegradable pollutants

Pollutants which cannot be degraded by microbes or degrade at a very slow rate

Primary pollutants

The pollutants which are directly introduced by their sources to the environment are called primary pollutants.

Secondary pollutants

Pollutants which are formed from the chemical reaction of primary pollutants in the environment

Quantitative pollutants

Pollutants exist in nature but only act as pollutants if there is a higher concentration of them

Qualitative pollutants

Pollutants do not exist naturally in the environment. They are introduced by humans

Air pollution

It is defined as the excessive concentration of foreign particles in the air which adversely affects the well-being of humans, animals, plants and the environment

Water pollution

It is defined as alteration in the physical, chemical or biological characteristics of water, making it unsuitable for designated used in natural state.

Soil pollution

It cab be defined as the change in physical, chemical and biological conditions of the soil through mans intervention resulting in degradation in quality and productivity of soil

Radioactive pollution

It is defined as the increase in natural background radiation, emerging from the activities of man using naturally occurring or artificially prepared radioactive materials

Noise pollution

It is defined as an unwanted sound that is an irritant and a source of stress

Eutrophication

It is the process of depletion of oxygen from waterbodies occurring either naturally or due to human activities

Biomagnification

It means increasing the concentration of variation of various toxic substances along the food chain

Bioaccumulation

The phenomenon of concentrated deposition of toxic substances at the trophic level

Car-pooling

It refers to the sharing of car journeys by people going on the same route