**4. Conclusions**

The assessment of the concentrations of TE in the soil is very important, not only for environmental purposes but also to help solve problems associated with human health and plant toxicity. Trace elements' profiles in soil result essentially from the weathering of geologic parent materials since their concentrations are directly linked to the parent material based on their immobile nature.

Given the volcanic origin of the Azorean soils, the natural enrichment of some elements, such as manganese, and an uneven and reduced distribution of others, such as cobalt and iodine, can contribute to the development of health problems in plants, animals, and humans. Due to the natural enrichment of some chemical elements in volcanic soils, resulting from the volcanic activity, which cannot be controlled, a very tight control of the possible sources of anthropogenic contamination is crucial to prevent the occurrence of toxic levels that prejudice plants, animals, and human's health. Regardless of substantial progress in the study of soil TEs, the application of critical exposure concentrations and the associated health risks are yet scarce and not fully clarified. Although the data obtained for the Azorean soils pinpoints to possible toxicity of manganese and deficiency of cobalt in some areas, more thorough studies, such as the ones developed for iodine, are required. Only with further information, focusing primarily on the bioavailability and bioaccessibility of the trace elements, it will be possible to adequately predict the health risks of exposure to soil TEs, which is particularly relevant in the areas where the environmental risk is greater, such as the volcanic environments.

**113**

**Author details**

Portugal

Diana Paula Silva Linhares1

Ponta Delgada, Portugal

and Armindo dos Santos Rodrigues1,2

\*, Patrícia Ventura Garcia2,3

1 Institute of Volcanology and Risks Assessment (IVAR), University of the Azores,

2 Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of the Azores, Ponta Delgada,

3 Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), and Azorean

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

Biodiversity Group, University of the Azores, Ponta Delgada, Portugal

\*Address all correspondence to: diana.ps.linhares@uac.pt

provided the original work is properly cited.

*Trace Elements in Volcanic Environments and Human Health Effects*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90786*

*Trace Elements in Volcanic Environments and Human Health Effects DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90786*
