engleski

Mercury in European agricultural and grazing land soils

Agricultural (Ap, Ap-horizon, 0–20 cm) and grazing land soil samples (Gr, 0–10 cm) were collected from a large part of Europe (33 countries, 5.6 million km2) at an average density of 1 sample site/2500 km2. The resulting more than 2 _ 2000 soil samples were air dried, sieved to <2 mm and analysed for their Hg concentrations following an aqua regia extraction. Median concentrations for Hg are 0.030 mg/kg (range: <0.003–1.56 mg/kg) for the Ap samples and 0.035 mg/kg (range: <0.003–3.12 mg/kg) for the Gr samples. Only 5 Ap and 10 Gr samples returned Hg concentrations above 1 mg/kg. In the geochemical maps the continental-scale distribution of the element is clearly dominated by geology. Climate exerts an important influence. Mercury accumulates in those areas of northern Europe where a wet and cold climate favours the build-up of soil organic material. Typical anthropogenic sources like coal-fired power plants, waste incinerators, chlor-alkali plants, metal smelters and urban agglomerations are hardly visible at continental scales but can have a major impact at the local-scale.

mercury ; agricultural and grazing land soils ; Europe ; EGS GEMAS Project

Svi članovi GEMAS tima sudjelovali su u izvođenju EuroGeoSurveys Geochemistry Expert Group projekta „Geochemistry of Agricultural and Grazing Land Soils in Europe“ i u intereptaciji rezultata za pojedinu zemlju. GEMAS Project Team: Albanese, S., Andersson, M., Arnoldussen, A., Baritz, R., Batista, M.J., Bel-lan, A., Birke, M., Cicchella, D., Demetriades, A., Dinelli, E., De Vivo, B., De Vos, W., Duris, M., Dusza-Dobek, A., Eggen, O.A., Eklund, M., Ernsten, V., Filzmoser, P., Finne, T.E., Flight, D., Forrester, S., Fuchs, M., Fugedi, U., Gilucis, A., Gosar, M., Gregorauskiene, V., Gulan, A., Halamić, J., Haslinger, E., Hayoz, P., Hobiger, G., Hoffmann, R., Hoogewerff, J., Hrvatović, H., Husnjak, S., Janik, L., Johnson, C.C., Jordan, G., Kirby, J., Kivisilla, J., Klos, V., Krone, P., Kwecko, P., Kuti, L., ladenberger, A., Lima, A., Locutura, J., Lucivjansky, P., Mackovych, D., Malyuk, B.I., Maquil, R., McLaughlin, M., Meuli, R.G., Miošić, N., Mol, G., Negrel, P., O'Connor, P., Oorts, K., Ottesen, R.T., Pasieczna, V., Petersell, V., Pfleiderer, S., Ponavič, M., Prazeres, C., Rauch, U., Reimann, C., Salpeteur, I., Schedl, A., Scheib, A., Schoeters, I., Sefcik, P., Sellersjo,