ABSTRACT
Soils are a prime and very important natural resource, and soil fertility is a major concern for sustainable agriculture and economic development of any country. In recent decades, problems of contaminated land sites, water bodies, groundwater, and air worldwide have increased manyfold due to anthropogenic activities. Mining is one of the anthropogenic activities that cause pollution problems in, around, and outside of mining areas. Phytotechnologies used for the remediation of contaminated sites are known as phytoremediation technologies, and they use higher plants to clean up and revegetate contaminated sites. Phytoremediation includes seven mechanisms, which are phytodegradation, phytostabilization, phytovolatilization, phytoextraction, phytofiltration, rhizodegradation, and phytodesalination, which plants use to avoid, partition, or remove toxic contaminants. This chapter describes various processes involved in phytotechnologies and the role of these processes in improving physicochemical properties of mine sites. Successful phytoremediation of organic pollutants by rhizodegradation has been confirmed for a wide range of organic and inorganic contaminants, such as hydrocarbons, pesticides, and heavy metals.
