Soil Science

Submission Deadline: February 28, 2026

Guest Editor:

Martin Banov, DSc

Professor in Soil Science, Department of Soil Genesis and Classification, N. Poushkarov Institute of Soil Science, Agrotechnologies and Plant Protection, Sofia, Bulgaria

Research interests: Soil Science; Environment; Ecology; Restoration and Remediation of Disturbed, Polluted and Eroded Lands and Soils; Land Surveying; Geodesy; Evaluation of Agricultural Land

Topic Scope

Modern research shows that, against the background of the Earth's water areas (75% of the planet's surface), about 12% of the land is inhospitable for life and civilized habitation (deserts, glaciers, mountains, etc.) for climatic, relief, soil and other reasons. Human civilization has developed about 10% for construction (including lands with extremely unfavorable soils for agriculture). Only about 3% of land remains for active agricultural practices.

In recent years, there has been a continuous decrease in the arable and unarable land fund, which is directly dependent on the intensive development of society and industry.

Soil destruction and pollution is the result of a number of natural and anthropogenic processes, the most important of which are: soil erosion, soil compaction, soil disturbance and covering (sealing) of soils, soil pollution and disturbances caused by the mining and processing industries.

The estimated average losses of agricultural land show the following:

• Losses from non-agricultural use - 8,000,000 ha.
• Losses from erosion - 3,000,000 ha.
• Losses from desertification - 2,000,000 ha.
• Losses from pollution, etc. - 2,000,000 ha.

In total, this amounts to losses of about 15,000,000 ha per year.

Reclamation is one of the most radical methods for restoring disturbed soil cover. It includes a variety of techniques that return the site to its natural form as close as possible, after which it can be used for recreation, sports, tourism, agricultural, forestry and other purposes. Reclamation includes the following stages:

1. Establishing the nature and extent of the disturbance. Depending on this, three main groups of sites are distinguished - physically disturbed, chemically contaminated and an intermediate category uniting the previous two.
2. Technical reclamation. It involves cleaning and preparing the terrain; removing and transporting soil masses according to their intended purpose; leveling and shaping the terrain in its final form, adding improvers, removing, transporting and spreading the humus layer; building temporary and permanent roads, building anti-erosion and hydro-ameliorative facilities; shaping water areas.
3. After the technical one comes the turn of biological reclamation, which stage is related to the implementation of a complex of agrotechnical, agrochemical, technological and melioration measures to restore the productivity of the reclaimed areas.
4. Evaluation and categorization of the reclaimed terrain.

The proposed project /publication/ discusses topics related to soil fertility protection and soil health risk assessment from the application of various industrial methods for mining and processing of minerals.

The topics that can be included are the following:

• Methods for mining and processing of minerals;
• Environmental disturbances caused by anthropogenic activity
• Modern technologies for restoring soil fertility;
• Principles for assessing agricultural lands with reclaimed soils
• Benefits for agriculture and food security.