in geologic mapping, rural and urban land planning, especially in terms of agriculture and forestry. Soil surveys are essential parts of land use planning and mapping as they provide insight on agricultural land usage. Soil surveys provide information on optimum cropping systems and soil management so less land degradation is done and agriculture provides its optimum yield for the increasing per capita food consumption. Soil survey investigations include: soil erodibility, depth of soil, steepness of slope, shrink-swell potential, frequency of rock outcrops, possibility of salinization fertilizer-plant response, and crop variety trials. Focuses Environmental geology includes managing geological and hydrogeological resources such as fossil fuels, minerals, water (surface and groundwater), and land use, studying the earth's surface through the disciplines of geomorphology, and edaphology, defining and mitigating exposure of natural hazards on humans, managing industrial and domestic waste disposal and minimizing or eliminating effects of pollution, and performing associated activities, often involving litigation. Environmental geology is often applied to some well known environmental issues including population growth, mining, diminishing resources, and global land use. Mining Since the Stone Age, when humans began mining for flint, they have been dependent on this practice, and the dependency on minerals continues to increase as society evolves. One of the downsides of mining is that it is restricted to areas where minerals are present and economically viable. Mining duration is also restrained as mineral resources are finite, so when a deposit is exhausted, mining in that location comes to an end. Although modern mining and mineral activities utilize many ways to reduce negative environmental impacts, accidental releases can occur and the appropriate mitigation and prevention practices were not common in historical practices. Potentially harmful metals, other deposit constituents, and mineral processing chemicals or byproducts can contaminate the surrounding environment due to these situations. Some common environmental impacts of mining are rock displacements that allow fine dust particles to seep into surface waters, the defacement of the local landscape, and the large amounts of waste with some being chemically reactive. Ultimately, the impact that mining has on the environment is determined by many factors such as the size of the operation and the type of mining. Environmental geology has reduced the negative environmental impacts of mining as it has been used in litigation toward mining. In some countries like Brazil and Australia for example, it is decreed by law that sites must undergo rehabilitation after a