An Introduction to Environmental Chemistry

Environmental chemistry is now a key part of many environmental, earth and life science courses. An understanding of the fundamental chemistry implicit in the subject is important, but students must also be familiar with aspects of mineralogy, oceanography, soil science, sedimentology and microbiology, to name just a few of the cross-over areas. The second edition is fully revised and expanded to provide a concise but thorough introduction to the subject in its widest sense. The book retains an emphasis on describing how natural geochemical processes operate over a variety of scales in time and space, and how the effects of human perturbations can be measured. Topics range from familiar global issues such as atmospheric pollution and its effect on global warming and ozone destruction, the link between chemistry and productivity in the oceans, through contamination of soils by synthetic organic chemicals, to the microbiological processes that cause pollution of drinking water in deltas. The book contains sections and information boxes that explain the basic chemistry underpinning the subjects covered. These boxes will help students with little or no previous chemical background to enter this fascinating subject.