Environmental Earth Science and Medical Geology
A section of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601).
Section Information
This section includes two major parts. One is related to environmental earth science, which studies pedosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere, and their chemical, physical, and biological processes between interfaces of these spheres, investigates the pattern of geological environmental changes, develops environmental risk assessment and protection systems, explores regional environmental quality changes and prediction and response of environmental change, and reveals environmental behaviors, effects, and mechanisms of contaminants in multi-environmental compartments. The second part is related to medical geology, which examines the public health impacts of geologic materials and geologic processes. Medical geology is a dynamic discipline, bringing together the geoscience, biomedical, and public health communities to solve a wide range of environmental health problems. Among the environmental health problems that geologists and the medical community need to collaborate on include: exposure to natural dust and to radioactivity; exposure to toxic levels of trace essential and non-essential elements such as arsenic and mercury; nutrient trace element deficiencies; naturally occurring toxic organic and inorganic compounds in drinking water; identification and effects of volcanic emissions, etc.
Keywords
- Environmental pedology or soil environmental science;
- Environmental water science;
- Environmental atmospheric science;
- Environmental biology;
- Environmental geology and geochemistry;
- Ecotoxicology;
- Environmental behavior and effects of contaminants;
- Environmental and health risks of contaminants;
- Regional environmental quality and safety;
- Geochemical anomalies in soils, sediments, and water that may adversely impact human and animal health;
- Environmental causes of known health problems and, in collaboration with bio- medical/public health researchers, seek solutions to prevent or minimize these problems;
- The beneficial health effects of geologic materials and process;
- Reassurance of the public when there are unwarranted environmental health concerns associated with geologic materials or processes;
- Finding solutions for environmental health problems.
