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 (1/5000 km2) data available on soil heavy metal concentrations prior to the LUCAS topsoil survey, which had a sampling density of 200 km2. 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.

TOTH Gergely;  HERMANN Tamas;  SZATMÁRI Gábor;  PÁSZTOR László; 

2016-07-11

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

JRC101752

0048-9697,   

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969716310452,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC101752,   

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.05.115,