Maps of heavy metals in the soils of the European Union and proposed priority areas for detailed assessment.
Soil contamination is one of the greatest concerns among the threats to soil resources in Europe and globally. Despite of its importance there was only very course scale (1/5000km(2)) data available on soil heavy metal concentrations prior to the LUCAS topsoil survey, which had a sampling density of 200km(2). Based on the results of the LUCAS sampling and auxiliary information detailed and up-to-date maps of heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Zn, Sb, Co and Ni) in the topsoil of the European Union were produced. Using the maps of heavy metal concentration in topsoil we made a spatial prediction of areas where local assessment is suggested to monitor and eventually control the potential threat from heavy metals. Most of the examined elements remain under the corresponding threshold values in the majority of the land of the EU. However, one or more of the elements exceed the applied threshold concentration on 1.2Mkm(2), which is 28.3% of the total surface area of the EU. While natural backgrounds might be the reason for high concentrations on large proportion of the affected soils, historical and recent industrial and mining areas show elevated concentrations (predominantly of As, Cd, Pb and Hg) too, indicating the magnitude of anthropogenic effect on soil quality in Europe.
European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Via E. Fermi 2749, 21027, Ispra, Italy. Electronic address: gergely.toth@jrc.ec.europa.eu.
Gergely
G
Tóth
University of Pannonia, Georgikon Faculty, Department of Crop Production and Soil Science, Keszthely, Hungary. Electronic address: tamas.hermann@georgikon.hu.
Tamás
T
Hermann
Institute for Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary. Electronic address: gabor.szatmari@agrar.mta.hu.
Gábor
G
Szatmári
Institute for Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary. Electronic address: pasztor.laszlo@agrar.mta.hu.
László
L
Pásztor
D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005062:European Union; D062305:Geographic Mapping; D008377:Maps as Topic; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*
D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D001151:Arsenic
As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Zn, Sb, Co, Ni; Soil contamination; Soil threats