Transport, Transformation and Cycling of Elements in Water and Soil and Their Response to Human Activities

This Reprint  systematically addresses the biogeochemical behaviors of elements across soil and aquatic environments, focusing on element transport, chemical transformation, biogeochemical cycling, and how anthropogenic disturbances alter natural element cycles. It integrates soil science, hydrochemistry, environmental geochemistry and watershed ecology to elaborate fundamental mechanisms governing the migration, speciation change, accumulation, and loss of macro and trace elements in soil–water systems. It covers core processes including adsorption–desorption, dissolution–precipitation, redox reactions, microbial transformation, leaching, and runoff transport of elements at multiple spatial scales from microcosm and plot to catchment. It further reveals responses of element cycling to typical human activities: agricultural fertilization, land-use conversion, urbanization, industrial pollution, water regulation, and soil remediation. Case studies illustrate eutrophication risks, heavy metal contamination, nutrient export, and elemental imbalance driven by human interference.