Phytoremediation of shooting range soils

Abstract

Used bullets and fragments have been known as a primary source of heavy metals/metalloids in shooting ranges. Once the bullets perch on soils, toxic metals/metalloids can be released into the surrounding environment and subsequently transformed into a wide range of species through oxidation and deterioration of the pellets and become bioavailable in soils. Various physicochemical techniques have been adopted for the elimination of heavy metals from the shooting range soil, and those methods are highly time-consuming and expensive. Therefore in this chapter, we comprehensively discuss the phytoremediation technique as an alternative method to remediate shooting range soils. The phytoremediation of shooting ranges is not an easy task due to multi-metals/metalloids contamination. At this instant, only a limited number of plant species such as Vetiveria zizanoides, Helianthus annuus, Zea maize, Pisum sativum, Helianthus annuus, etc. Are experimented for shooting range soil. Therefore, identification of potentially phytoremedial plant species is very important. However, not many cases have focused on simultaneous metals and metalloid removal. Transgenic plants can be successfully employed to promote phytoremediation of metals and metalloids in shooting range soil. Overall, phytoremediation would be highly applicable to remediate toxic metals/metalloids in shooting range soils.