Contact person: Tomáš Matys Grygar
Soils in developed countries have been impacted by severe anthropogenic pressure, in particular in relation to technological advances in the modern era and most severely after industrial revolution. One of consequences is soil contamination by risk elements from metallurgy, heavy industry, and many common activities such as transportation. Simultaneously, soil composition, including risk element concentrations, is variable for natural reasons, in particular anomalous bedrock geology, typically certain volcanic rocks and rocks in mineralized areas, segregation of soil components by slope processes, and natural element cycling in plant-soil system. In the present time it is much easier to gather large datasets of soil composition data than to understand the risk element variability. Anthropogenic and natural causes of risk element contamination in soils are frequently confused, because their reliable discrimination requires use of state-of-the-art knowledge and soil mapping and analyses considerably extending the routines in soil monitoring and mapping for legislative purposes. Particularly challenging is distinguishing diffuse contamination and impacts of older historical times.
References
- Matys Grygar T, Elznicová J, Tůmová Š, Kylich T, Skála J, Hron K, Álvarez Vázquez MÁ. Moving from geochemical to contamination maps using incomplete chemical information from long-term high-density monitoring of Czech agricultural soils. Environmental Earth Sciences. DOI: 10.1007/s12665-022-10692-3
- Adamec S, Tůmová Š, Hošek M, Lučić M, Matys Grygar T (2024) Pitfalls of distinguishing anthropogenic and geogenic reasons for risk elements in soils around coal-fired power plants: from a case study in the Northwestern Czech Republic to general recommendations. Journal of Soils and Sediments 24, 1274-1288