Exam 15: Soils and Chemical Pollution

Which of the following types chemical would be classed as a pesticide?

It has been found that continued, repeated application of an organic toxin to a particular soil will _____ the capacity of that soil's microflora to degrade the compound in question.

Draining a chromium-contaminated wetland would be likely to immobilize the metal so that environmental chromium toxicity problems would be minimized.

The principal human health effect of exposure to radon is ____.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency regulates the amount of sewage sludge that can be applied on agricultural land by setting limits on ____.

Soil application of certain pesticides reduces the diversity but increases the numbers of soil mesofauna.

In the design of a _______ type landfill, evapotranspiration by cover vegetation should be maximized.

Organic chemicals whose structures have positively charged groups tend to be very immobile in the soil.

Soil washing is a commonly used method of bioremediation.

The amount of a pesticide that hits the target pest is usually _____ of the amount applied to the ecosystem.

A soils contaminated with a heavy metal may be bioremediated by ____.

A pesticide is more likely to contaminate groundwater if it has which of the following characteristics?

Soil properties play a much more important role in choosing a site for a containment-type landfill than for a natural-attenuation-type landfill.

Anaerobic decomposition of organic wastes in landfills results in the production of ______ gas which is often recovered and used.

In the design of a _______ type landfill, biodegradation and colloid adsorption are important mechanisms of reducing pollution potential.

Except for a very small number of accidental spills, pesticides used in agriculture have not yet been found to contaminate actual groundwater wells.

Bioremediation of soils is often brought about by amending the polluted soils with fertilizers containing mineral nutrients.

The final cover on any type of landfill should consist of soil material with rapid permeability and a high rate of infiltration.

In the United States between the 1970s and the 1990s, the level of heavy metals found in municipal sewage sludge ______.

Maintaining soil reaction at pH 7.0 is likely to virtually eliminate any significant _______ by heavy metals applied to soils with sewage sludge.