Soil is the place where human beings, plants, and animals depend on for their survival and the link between the various ecological layers. Groundwater is an important component of water resources and is one of the most important sources of water for irrigated agriculture, industry, mining and cities because of its stable quantity and quality. Soil and groundwater are important strategic resources highly valued by countries around the world. However, in recent years, the deterioration of the ecological environment of soil-groundwater caused by industrial, domestic, and agricultural pollution sources has continued to threaten human health and ecological security. Among them, organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), as typical organic pollutants, cause very serious pollution of soil and groundwater environment. However, most studies on the pollution of OCPs have focused on the aboveground or surface water environment, and little consideration has been given to the pollution and hazards of OCPs to the deep soil and groundwater environment, especially the effects of different environmental factors on the transport and transformation of OCPs in soil-groundwater. Moreover, in addition to the influence of a single factor on it, the interactions that arise between different factors cannot be ignored. This paper focuses on two major sources of OCPs in soil and groundwater environments, compiles and summarizes the effects of environmental factors such as pH, microbial communities and enzyme activities on the transport and transformation of OCPs in soil and groundwater systems, discusses the synergistic effects of individual environmental factors and others, and comprehensively analyses the effects of synergistic effects of various environmental factors on the transport and transformation of OCPs. In the context of ecological civilization construction, it provides the scientific basis and theoretical foundation for the prevention and treatment of OCPs-contaminated soil and groundwater, and puts forward new ideas and suggestions for the research and development of green, eco-friendly remediation and treatment technologies for OCPs-contaminated sites.

Soil ecosystems are increasingly exposed to combined contamination by microplastics (MPs) and heavy metals (HMs), yet the interaction does not follow one generic pattern across metals. This review focuses on five priority heavy metals (Pb, Cr, Cd, As, and Hg) and compares their differential responses to interactions with conventional and biodegradable MPs under changing particle size, oxidation, biofilm/eco-corona development, pH, dissolved organic matter, and redox conditions. We show that the oxidation–biofilm synergy does not act uniformly: it most consistently strengthens Pb/Cd complexation and carrier-assisted enrichment, modulates Cr mainly through the coupling of adsorption with valence transformation, reshapes As's sorption–methylation pathways, and alters Hg predominantly through dissolved organic matter (DOM)-mediated transformation rather than sorption alone. We further show that conventional and biodegradable MPs can regulate heavy metals' mobility, bioavailability, trophic transfer, and ecological risk in contrasting ways, especially in the rhizosphere and in multimetal settings. On this basis, the review advances three linked contributions: a comparative framework for metal-specific differential responses, a direct comparison between conventional and biodegradable MPs, and a metal–polymer-specific remediation design framework for complex co-contaminated soils. Finally, we identify priorities for future work, including long-term field validation, multimetal competition, time-resolved aging of biodegradable MPs, cross-trophic transfer, and mechanism-guided remediation that jointly suppresses MPs' carrier effects and HMs' bioavailability.

Spatiotemporal analysis of heavy metal pollution and risks in soils from a shut-down electroplating plant was carried out. Two batch samples were tested in December 2020 and August 2022, obtained from different sampling positions and depths. The results show that Cu, Pb, As, and Ni were the main pollutants, and their spatial distribution characteristics in December 2020 and August 2022 were similar. The pollution depth of Cu, Pb, As, and Ni was mainly concentrated within 1.0 m from the ground. In the horizontal direction, the four kinds of pollutants had some relatively concentrated pollution areas and many dispersed pollution points. In December 2020, Cu contamination was heavy, and the comprehensive ecological risk was slight. In August 2022, Cu contamination was heavy, Pb contamination was moderate, and the comprehensive ecological risk was moderate as well. Both As and Ni posed carcinogenic risks in both samples. Cu, Pb, As, and Ni migrated very slowly under the action of rainfall infiltration. Soil pollution was primarily attributed to wastewater discharge, while dispersed pollution sites were mainly caused by the landfilling of production waste. The research findings hold significant implications for heavy metal pollution control and risk prevention in the soil of electroplating enterprises.