Permafrost is permanently frozen soil, and occurs mostly in high latitudes. Permafrost comprises 24% of the land in the Northern Hemisphere, and stores massive amounts of carbon. As a result of climate change, permafrost is at risk of melting, releasing the stored carbon in the form of carbon dioxide and methane, which are powerful heat-trapping gases. In addition, permafrost is structurally important, and its melting has been known to cause erosion, disappearance of lakes, landslides, and ground subsidence. It will also cause changes in plant species composition at high latitudes.
Urbanization has similar effects on land resources. Natural land cover is disturbed as cities are built leading to erosion and other changes in land quality and rapid development can result in very high levels of erosion and sedimentation in river channels. Pollutants are often dispersed across cities or concentrated in industrial areas or waste sites. Lead- based paint used on roads and highways and on buildings is one such example of a widely dispersed pollutant that found its way into soil. But humans also bury tremendous amounts of waste in the ground at municipal and industrial dumps. These materials can severely contaminate soils. Even such commonplace items like gasoline storage tanks at filling stations have the potential to cause serious contamination. |
5 Fun Facts
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Dirt on Dirt
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DeforestationAs you can see the forest still covers up about 30% of the worlds land. Deforestation can impact the lithosphere by damaging the quality of the land. The world's Rain-Forest could completely vanish in hundreds of years at the current rate of deforestation. Also loss of habitat for millions of species. 70% of earths animals live in the forest. Extreme temperature due to the removal of trees, and the fewer forest there are, the larger amount of greenhouse gasses.
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