No abstract

The interdisciplinary field of "Medical Geology" responds to the need to better understand the relationships between human health and our surrounding environment. The influence of earth resources, natural environmental factors and land-use on human health has long been recognized, dating back to ancient Rome and Peru's Inca civilization. Today links between the natural environment and health can be found throughout the world. This review introduces the historical context of this particular type of research, contrasts the direct geological and indirect natural hazard influences on health as a framework of study, elaborates on pathways of elemental accumulation in the body and provides examples of specific geochemical behaviours and diseases that are often associated with either too much or not enough of certain elements which comprise the Earth.