Two examples of land pollution are desertification and waste disposal. Desertification is the expansion of deserts resulting from human overuse and misuse of the environment. The Sahel area on the southern margins of the Sahara Desert is where the greatest degree of desertification occurs. See Figure 5.25 on page 171 in the textbook. Packaging, including paper, accounts for the largest percentage of solid waste in the United States.
Deforestation is an example of biosphere pollution.
Tropical deforestation, in particular, is looked at by many researchers as perhaps the most important type of pollution because of its many interconnected consequences. See Figure 5.2, page 145. Be familiar with the hydrologic cycle . See Figure 5.4, page 146. Distinguish between point and nonpoint sources of pollution .