Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Minerals, Natural Environment, and Medical Geology

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Minerals latu sensu and Human Health

Abstract

The increasing concern of modern societies with the interactions between the environment and human health, in particular through the geological processes and products, justified the emergence in the last two decades of the scientific field called Medical Geology, which has been mainly focused on the negative or hazardous effects of minerals. The scientific field of Medical Geology is strongly interdisciplinary and is a matter of interest and involvement of people with professional education and training in diverse scientific areas, such as medicine, geology, biology, biochemistry, biophysics, mineralogy, geochemistry, hydrogeology, hydrochemistry, ecology, environment, food chemistry, pharmacy, nutrition, toxicology, pathology, epidemiology, etiology, territory planning, and economics. For instance, minerals could participate in the formulations of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics as active substances and as excipients, and could participate in mineral supplement formulations too. Minerals in the so-called elemental form are essential constituents of mineral water used for human consumption and are also used in naturotherapies involving mineral water such as mud therapy/pelotherapy, balneotherapy, crenotherapy, and thalassotherapy, mostly taking place in thermal spas where health resort medicine is practiced under medical counseling and supervision. Also, minerals in the elemental form and as minerals stricto sensu can cause pathologies that, in specific circumstances, can be lethal.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Andrews JE, Brimblecombe P, Jickells TD, Liss PS, Reid B (2004) An introduction to environmental chemistry, 2nd edn, Blackwell Science Publishings

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentz JL, Peterson RC (2020) The formation of clay minerals in the mudflats of Bolivian salars. Clays Clay Miner. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42860-020-00065-x

  • Boulos MNK, Le Blond J (2016) On the road to personalized and precision geomedicine: medical geology and a renewed call for interdisciplinarity. Int J Health Geogr 15:5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12942-016-0033-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowman CA, Bobrowsky PT, Selinus O (2003) Medical geology: new relevance in the earth sciences. Episodes J Int Geosci 26(4):270–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brevik EC, Burgess LC (eds) (2013) Soils and human health. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Brevik EC, Sauer TJ (2015) The past, present, and future of soils and human health studies. Soil 1:35–46. www.soil-journal.net/1/35/2015/, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-1-35-2015

  • Buck BJ, Londono SC, McLaurin BT, Metcalf R, Mouri H, Selinus O, Shelembe R (2016) The emerging field of medical geology in brief: some examples. Environ Earth Sci 75:449

    Google Scholar 

  • Bunnell JE (2004). Medical geology: an emerging discipline on the ecosystem-human health interface. EcoHealth 1:15–18. USGS, US Department of the Interior

    Google Scholar 

  • Bunnell JE, Finkelman RB, Centeno JA, Selinus O (2007) Medical geology: a globally emerging discipline. Geologica Acta 5(3):273–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Centeno JA, Finlelman RB, Selinus O (2016) Medical geology: impacts of the natural environment on public health. Geosciences 6(1):8. https://doi.org/10.3390/geoscinces6010008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Centeno J (2017) Medical geology: impacts of the natural environment on human health. MedGeo’17, 7th International conference on Medical Geology, Moscow, Conference materials, Plenary Lecture PL-01, 37

    Google Scholar 

  • Chamley H (2003) Geosciences, environment and man. 1st edn., Elsevier Science Publishing Co, Amsterdam. ISBN: 0444514252

    Google Scholar 

  • Davenhall B (2009) Your health depends on where you live. In: TEDMED 2009. TED Conferences LLC, New York. http://www.ted.com/talks/bill-davenhall-your-health-depends-on-where-you-live?language=en

    Google Scholar 

  • Davenhall B (2010) The missing component: adding place when evaluating health risks (genetics+ lifestyle+environment=risks) ArcUser, ESRI, Redlands 2010, Winterissue:1011. http://www.esri.com/news/arcuser/0110/files/geomedicine.pdf

  • Davenhall B (2012) Geomedicine: geography and personal health. Redlands ESRI, 2012. https://www.esri.com/library/ebooks/geomedicine.pdf

  • Davenhall B (2014) Place: the seventh vital sign. AMA J Ethics 16(2):135–137. http://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/2014/02/msoc1-1402.html

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies TC (2010) Medical geology in Africa. In: Selinus O et al (eds) International year of planet earth. Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dissanoyake CB, Chandrajith R (2006) Inorganic aspects of medical geology. Z Dtsch Ges Geowiss 157(3):327–335

    Google Scholar 

  • Dissanayake CB, Chandrajith R (2009a) Introduction to medical geology. Springer, Dordrecht, 297 pp

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dissanayake CB, Chandrajith R (eds) (2009b) Introduction to medical geology: focus on tropical environments. Erlangen earth conference series, Freiwald A (ed), Springer, Dordrecht, Heidelberg, 297pp. ISBN: 978-3-642-00-484-1, e-ISBN 978-3-642-00485-8

    Google Scholar 

  • Duffin CJ, Moody RTJ, Gardner-Thorpe C (2013) A history of geology and medicine. Special Publications. Geological Society, London, 490pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Figueiredo BR, Litter MI, Silva CR, Mañay N, Londono SC, Rojas AM, Garzón C, Tosiani T, Di Giulio GM, De Capitani EM, Dos Anjos JA, Angélica RS, Morita MC, Paoliello MB, Cunha FG, Sakuma AM, Licht AO (2010) Medical geology studies in South America. In: Selinus O et al (eds) Medical geology, International year of planet earth. Springer, pp 79–105. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3430-4_4

  • Finkelman RB, Skinner HCW, Plumlee GS, Bunnell JE (2001) Medical geology. Geotimes, November 2001

    Google Scholar 

  • Finkelman RB (2006) Health benefits of geologic materials and geologic processes. Int J Environ Res Public Health 3(4):338–342

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finkelman RB (2007) Health impacts of coal: facts and fallacies. Ambio 36(1):103–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finkelman RB, Orem WH, Plumlee GS, Selinus O (2018) Chapter 17: Applications of geochemistry to medical geology. In: Vivo B, Belkin HE, Lima A (eds) Environmental geochemistry, 2nd edn. Elsevier B.V, Amsterdam, pp 435–465

    Google Scholar 

  • Finkelman RB (2019) The influence of clays on human health: a medical geology perspective. Clays Clay Miner 58(2), J Clay Minerals Soc. ISSN 0009-8604. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42860-018-0001-9

  • Fowles J, Weinstein P, Tseng C-H (2005) Environmental medicine. In: Selinus O (main ed) Essentials of medical geology. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Academic Press, pp 541–562

    Google Scholar 

  • Fowles J, Weinstein P, Tseng C-H (2013) Environmental medicine. In: Selinus O (main ed) Essentials of medical geology (revised edition). Springer, pp 549–567. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4375-5

  • Gomes CSF, Silva JBP (2006) Minerals and human health: benefits and risks/minerais e Saúde Humana: Benefícios e Riscos. Multiponto, 4000–299 Porto, 142 pp/158 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Gomes CSF, Silva JBP (2007) Minerals and clay minerals in medical geology. Appl Clay Sci 36:4–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gomes CSF (2015) Semelhança, Dissemelhança e Interdependência entre o Ser Humano e o Ser Mineral. O Liberal (editor), Câmara de Lobos, RAM, 371pp. ISBN: 978-989-8503-73-2

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasan SE (2017) Total health initiative and medical geology: need for a fresh perspective. Medical geology-impacts of the natural environment on human health. MedGeo’17, 7th International Conference on Medical Geology, Moscow. Conference materials, Plenary Lecture KL-02, 38

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasan SE, Finkeman R, Skinner CW (2013) Geology and health: a brief history from the pleistocene to today. In: Bickford ME (ed) The impact of the geological sciences on society, The Geological Society of America, Special paper 501, pp 155–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Hochella MF (2002) Sustaining Earth: Thoughts on the present and future roles of mineralogy in environmental sciences. Mineral Mag J Mineral Sci 66(5):627–652

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogan DE, Burstein JL (eds) (2007) Disaster medicine, 2nd edn. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • Holick MF (1995) Environmental factors that influence the cutaneous production of vitamin D1–3. Am J Clin Nutr 61(suppl):638S–645S

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs AM, Porter D (2012) Environmental sciences: health impacts. Kendall Hunt Publishing, Dubuque, 146pp. ISBN: 10.1465206493

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaramillo-Nieves LJ, Finkelman RB (2012) Preface. Environ Geochem Health 34:153. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-011-9432-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keller EA (2002) Introduction to environmental geology. Prentice Hall, CDROM, Upper Saddle River

    Google Scholar 

  • Komantina M (2004) Medical geology: effects of geological environments on human health. Elsevier Science Publishing Co, Amsterdam. ISBN: 0444516158

    Google Scholar 

  • Korobova E, Romanov S, Silenok A (2020) Endemic diseases of geochemical origin and methodological approaches toward their prevention and elimination. Environ Geochem Health 42:2595–2608. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-019-00442-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lӓg J (1990) General survey of geomedicine in geomedicine. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 1–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Landesman LY (2006) Public health management of disasters: the pocket guide. American Public Health Association, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason V, Andrews H, Upton D (2010) The psychological impact of exposure to floods. Psychol Health Med 15:61–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mello S (2019) Conhecimento, coesão e marca: a saúde 2030. Público 4 de Janeiro, 41

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller AC, Arquilla B (2008) Chronic diseases and natural hazards: impacts of disasters on diabetic, renal, and cardiac patients. Prehosp Disaster Med 23:185–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mӧller L (ed) (2000) Environmental medicine. Karolinska University Press and Joint Industrial Safety Council, 327 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Olden K, White SL (2005) Health related disparities: influence of environmental factors. Med Clin N Am 89:721–738

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plumlee GS, Morman SA, Ziegler TA (2006) The toxicological geochemistry of earth materials: an overview of processes and the interdisciplinary methods used to understand them. In: Sahai N, Schoonen MAA (eds) Medical mineralogy and geochemistry. Reviews in mineralogy and geochemistry, vol 64. Mineralogical Society of America and Geochemical Society, pp 5–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Plumlee GS, Ziegler T (2007) Chapter 7: The Medical Geochemistry of dusts, soils and other earth materials. In: Lollar BS (ed) Treatise on geochemistry, vol 9: environmental geochemistry, online edn. Elsevier, Oxford, pp 1–61. http://www.Sciencedirect.com/science/referenceworks/9780080437514

  • Plumlee GS (2009) Report from Ground Zero: How geoscientists aid in the aftermath of environmental disasters. Earth Mag 54:38–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Plumlee GS, Morman SA, Cook A (2012) Environmental and medical geochemistry in urban disaster response and preparedness. Elem Mag 8(6):5

    Google Scholar 

  • Plumlee GS, Morman SA, Meeker GP, Hoefen TM, Hageman PL, Wolf RE (2014) The environmental and medical geochemistry of potentially hazardous materials produced by disasters. In: Treatise on geochemistry, 2nd edn. chapter 11.7. Elsevier Ltd, Amsterdam, pp 257–304. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-095975-7.0090-7-4

  • Sahai N, Schoonen AA (2006) Medical Mineralogy and Geochemistry. In: Rosso JJ (senior ed) Reviews in Mineralogy & Geochemistry. Geological Society and Mineralogical Society of America, 332pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Sahai N, Schoonen AA, Skinner HCW (2006) The emergent field of medical mineralogy and geochemistry. In: Rosso JJ (senior ed) Reviews in mineralogy & geochemistry, vol 64. Geological Society and Mineralogical Society of America, pp 1–4

    Google Scholar 

  • Salminen R (Chief ed), Batista MJ, Bidovec M, Demetriades A, DeVivo B, De Vos W, et al (2005) Geochemical Atlas of Europe. Part 1 – Background information, methodology and maps. Geological Survey of Finland

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarkar D, Datta R, Hannigan R (eds) (2007) Concepts and applications in environmental geochemistry, vol 5 of the series “Developments in Environmental Science”, Published by Elsevier Ltd. ISSN: 1474-8177. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-8177(07)05001-2

  • Selinus O (2004) Medical geology: an emerging speciality. Terrae 1(1):A1–A8

    Google Scholar 

  • Selinus O, Alloway BJ, Centeno JA, Finkelman R, Fuge R, Lindh U, Smedley P (eds) (2005) Essentials of medical geology: impacts of natural environment on public health, 1st edn. Elsevier Academic Press, Amsterdam, 1024pp. ISBN: 0126363412

    Google Scholar 

  • Selinus O, Alloway BJ, Centeno JA, Finkelman RB, Fuge R, Lindh U, Smedley P (eds) (2013) Essentials of medical geology, 2nd edn. Springer, Dordrecht, 805pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Selinus O, Finkelman R, Centeno J (2010) Medical geology: a regional synthesis. Springer, Dordrech, 392pp. ISBN 978-90-481-3429-8. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3430-4

  • Silva CR, Figueiredo BR, de Capitani EM, Cunha FG (2010) Medical geology in Brazil: environmental and health effects of toxic on materials geological factors. 2005 Workshop International of Medical Geology, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Geological Survey of Brazil – CPRM Rio de Janeiro, 220pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Skinner HCW (2000) Minerals and human health. In: Vaughan DJ, Wogelius RA (eds) Environmental mineralogy, EMU notes in mineralogy, vol 2. Eӧtvӧs University Press, Budapest, pp 383–412

    Google Scholar 

  • Skinner HCW, Berger AR (eds) (2003) Geology and health: closing the gap. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Skinner HCW (2005) Biominerals. Mineral Mag 69(5):621–641

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warren HV (1965) Medical geology and geography. Science 148(3669):534–539. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.148.3669.534

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wigginton KR, Boehm AB (2020) Environmental engineers and scientists have important roles to play in stemming outbreaks and pandemics caused by enveloped viruses. Environ Sci Technol 54:3736–3739

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/health-topics/environmental-health/en

  • World Health Organization: The role of WHO in Public Health

    Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization: Public Health Surveillance

    Google Scholar 

  • World Health Movement: Public Health Actions

    Google Scholar 

  • Zheng B, Wang B, Finkelman RB (2010) Medical geology in China: then and now. In: Selinus O, Centeno JA, Finkelman RB (eds) Medical geology-A regional synthesis. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 303, 392pp–327

    Google Scholar 

  • Ziegler JL (1993) Endemic Karposi’s sarcoma in Africa and local volcanic soils. Lancet 342:1348–1351

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, Researcher of the Research Unit “GeoBioTec”, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Celso S. F. Gomes

Authors
  1. Celso S. F. Gomes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Celso S. F. Gomes .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, Researcher of the Research Unit “GeoBioTec”, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Celso Gomes

  2. Docteur d’État ès Sciences Physiques, Retired of University of Orléans, Orléans, France

    Michel Rautureau

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Gomes, C.S.F. (2021). Minerals, Natural Environment, and Medical Geology. In: Gomes, C., Rautureau, M. (eds) Minerals latu sensu and Human Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65706-2_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation