New Insights into the Occurrence, Mobility, Transport, and Fate of Contaminants in Surface and Subsurface Environments

Dear Colleagues,

Evaluating and understanding the dynamic interactions between water, rock, and soil is fundamental in relation to tackling many complex environmental challenges. These interactions play a key role in controlling the occurrence, mobilization, transformation, transport, and fate of contaminants in both groundwater and soil systems in the context of complex environmental settings. The Sources–Pathways–Receptors (SPR) framework, as well as the responses shaped by natural (geogenic) processes and anthropogenic influences within these interconnected systems, affects environmental quality, ecosystem health, and public health. This Special Issue (SI) seeks to highlight recent advances in understanding water–rock–soil interactions across diverse environmental settings and under varying degrees of anthropogenic influence, including natural systems with minimal human impact. The focus is on elucidating the implications of these interactions for contamination sources, contaminant transport, biogeochemical processes, and system responses under different environmental and climatic conditions. Furthermore, this SI also welcomes studies on geochemical interactions related to the underground storage of various substances (e.g., CO₂, hydrogen, etc.). The goal is to foster interdisciplinary dialogue by showcasing innovative approaches from the fields of geochemistry, soil science, mineralogy, hydrogeology, environmental engineering, and beyond. These contributions aim to provide a more comprehensive understanding of water–rock–soil interactions and an evaluation of SPR within realistic, holistic environmental contexts, including systems that explicitly include human activities and their impacts.

We welcome contributions that provide new insights into the behavior of contaminants in surface and subsurface environments, such as groundwater, soil, and their interface. This includes original research articles, reviews, case studies, and methodological innovations.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Geochemical fingerprinting of water–rock–soil interactions in natural and anthropogenically influenced environments.
• Geochemical interactions in underground storage facilities (e.g., for energy storage and radioactive waste).
• Sources, transport mechanisms, and fate of contaminants in water resources and soil.
• Mobility of contaminants as influenced by geochemical and biogeochemical processes.
• Roles of mineral dissolution/precipitation, redox transformations, and sorption mechanisms in controlling the distribution and transport of contaminants in soil and aquatic systems.
• Understanding the environmental geochemistry of potentially toxic elements (PTEs), nutrients, and emerging contaminants (e.g., per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances [PFASs] and micro/nano-plastics).
• Advances in field monitoring, laboratory experiments, and modeling of water–rock–soil systems.
• Impacts of climate change, land use, and anthropogenic stressors on environmental (water and soil) systems.
• Innovative analytical tools and methodologies for tracing contamination sources and pathways.
• Urban and peri-urban soil and groundwater geochemical analysis.
• Remediation technologies and strategies.
• Scientometric approaches in environmental sciences.

This SI aims to foster a collaborative platform bridging researchers from a wide range of environmental disciplines. Sharing ideas, insights, and breakthroughs related to surface and subsurface environments contributes to a deeper collective understanding of how water, rock, and soil interact. This understanding plays a key role in shaping effective strategies for the sustainable management of land and water.

We look forward to your contributions.

Dr. Panagiotis Papazotos
Dr. Eleni Gianni
Dr. Dionisios Panagiotaras
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Environments is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.