You are here:
DISTRIBUTION OF PARAMETERS DETERMINING BIOAVAILABILITY OF METALS IN EUROPEAN SOILS
Citation:
Clark, J., B. Dwyer, AND A Fairbrother. DISTRIBUTION OF PARAMETERS DETERMINING BIOAVAILABILITY OF METALS IN EUROPEAN SOILS. Presented at International Conference on the Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements, Uppsala, Sweden, June 15-19, 2003.
Description:
As part of a program to develop a predictive model of bioavailability and toxicity of copper in soils to terrestrial organisms, 19 soils from 9 countries of the EU were collected and analyzed for use in bioavailability tests. However, it is desired that the model be of use on a regional scale. To be applicable to soils with various combinations of soil parameters, the soils used in the studies need to be representative and inclusive of the natural range of soil characteristics. Parameters of collected soils were compared to data in existing soils databases of European soils. Specific characteristics analyzed include: pH, organic matter and total carbon, percent clay, total nitrogen, calcium carbonate, and water content at various pressures. Numerous soil databases were obtained and analyzed, including the global database of soils from the International Soil Reference and Information Center (ISRIC, Wageningen, The Netherlands) and a database of soil types from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, Rome, Italy). Following is an example graph of organic carbon from the top soil layer in the ISRIC database for European countries compared to the percent organic carbon from the sampled soils on a log scale. The 10% and 90% values from the ISRIC database for organic carbon are 0.90% and 17%, respectively ? while the range of sampled organic carbon was from 0.40% to 23% (about the 1.5 and 92nd percentiles of the ISRIC distribution). Additional comparisons will be presented and discussed. It appears that the 19 soils collected for use in bioavailability studies are representative of the range of European soils.