Biogeochemical Cycling and the Fate of Heavy Metals in the Environment
A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Mineralogy and Biogeochemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 9
Special Issue Editors
Interests: solid waste minimisation; cemented paste backfill; pollution reduction; recycling; first-principles calculations; molecular dynamics; artificial intelligence
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: mining technology; cemented paste backfill; solid waste recycling; groundwater contamination; cementitious materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The large-scale extraction of mineral resources inevitably releases heavy metals into the environment. Once introduced, these metals persist as a serious threat to both ecosystems and human health, owing to their non-degradable nature and their tendency to bioaccumulate through food chains. Toxic elements, such as chromium, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and lead, inflict severe ecological and physiological damage by disrupting enzymatic functions and impairing organ systems when they occur in soluble, bioavailable forms.
This Special Issue brings together cutting-edge research on the fate of heavy metals—tracing their transport pathways through environmental compartments, their bioaccumulation in biota, and the development of innovative detection techniques and sustainable remediation strategies—while also examining how global change influences metal mobilization. Its goal is to foster a comprehensive understanding of metal cycling dynamics and to inform effective risk management and policy development in the face of enduring metal contamination.
Dr. Chongchong Qi
Dr. Qiusong Chen
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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. Minerals 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 2400 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.
Keywords
- source appointment
- transfer mechanism
- toxicity
- plant uptake
- bioaccumulation
- advanced detection and monitoring
- environmental and health implications
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