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Soil Degradation

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Book cover The Soils of Taiwan

Part of the book series: World Soils Book Series ((WSBS))

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Abstract

The major types of soil degradation in Taiwan are soil erosion on slope land, soil acidification, poor drainage, soil compaction, soil salinity, deficiency of micronutrient, water shortage of sandy soil, and heavy metal contamination. In comparison to the issues of air and water pollution, contaminated lands have been solely paid clear attention in Taiwan for about three decades. The major anthropogenic sources of heavy metals in the rural soils of Taiwan are illegal wastewater discharged from industrial plants such as chemical, electroplate, and pigment and swine wastewater. Three remediation techniques were illustrated in this chapter according to the remediation experiences in the contaminated paddy soils of Taiwan, which are soil turnover and dilution, in situ stabilization by chemical amendments, and phytoremediation in the field. Until now, soil remediation technique and regulatory system are needed to be improved for soil contamination, particularly based on human and ecological health. Additionally, we use the concept of threshold values to evaluate soil quality of agricultural lands in Taiwan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Zueng-Sang Chen

  2. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan

    Zeng-Yei Hseu

  3. Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, National Ilan University, Ilan, Taiwan

    Chen-Chi Tsai

Authors
  1. Zueng-Sang Chen
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  2. Zeng-Yei Hseu
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  3. Chen-Chi Tsai
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Correspondence to Zueng-Sang Chen .

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Chen, ZS., Hseu, ZY., Tsai, CC. (2015). Soil Degradation. In: The Soils of Taiwan. World Soils Book Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9726-9_10

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