Long-term challenges, the characteristics and behavior of various hazardous material and trace elements in soil

Trace elements (TEs) could have hazardous effects on soil and plants, therefore imposing maximum admissible restrictions on their concentrations in soil by governments or organizations. These limits are usually classified into many groups, depending on the soil usage, soil qualities, or both. The goal of this chapter was to investigate and assess the toxic effect of TEs in soil by identifying potential health issues in soils with maximum permissible values and managing their toxicity effects. The soil-to-human pathway was examined, and we identified three primary TE exposures: household, commercial, and farming. The limits of arsenic have been shown to provide a relative high-risk quotient (HQi) that tends to underestimate its risk. Other TE restrictions such as Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn often lead to low HQi, which means that limitations are somewhat overprotective in those circumstances. This chapter also covers the management and remediation opportunities available to solve this crucial problem.