Urban Soil Chemistry
This dataset has now been superseded, please see the Estimated Urban Soil Chemistry dataset. There are two themes to BGS urban soil chemistry, the point source dataset and the estimated dataset. The point source urban soil chemistry data comprises the locations and concentrations (mg kg-1) of Arsenic (As). Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni) and Lead (Pb) in urban topsoil samples. The Estimated Urban Soil Chemistry data indicates the estimated geometric mean concentrations (mg kg-1) of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb in topsoil derived by spatial interpolation of the Point Source Urban Soil Chemistry data. Both urban soil chemistry datasets are derived from high resolution urban soil geochemical data from the BGS Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment (G-BASE) project. The Urban Soil Chemistry data can be used to assist Local Planning Authorities to identify those areas where a risk assessment may need to be carried out by developers. Comparison of this spatially referenced geochemical data with information on current or historic land use and geological information might help environmental professionals decide whether high PHE concentrations in topsoils can be attributed to geogenic or anthropogenic sources. The dataset is based on, and limited to, an interpretation of the records in the possession of the BGS at the time the dataset was created.
dataset
BGS Homepage
- The BGS Homepage is an entry point to the BGS data services.
:
http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13605562
English
Geoscientific information
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0:
BGS Thesaurus of Geosciences:
Soil chemistry
Chromium
Lead
Cadmium
Arsenic
Nickel
UK Location (INSPIRE)
Free:
Free:
NERC_DDC
-8.6500,
49.7700,
1.7800,
60.8600
GBN, GREAT BRITAIN [id=139600]
creation: 2011
1968
-
2010
vector
British Geological Survey
Enquiries
Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth,
NOTTINGHAM,
NG12 5GG,
United Kingdom
tel: 0115 936 3143
email:
enquiries@bgs.ac.uk
Role: distributor
British Geological Survey
Enquiries
Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth,
NOTTINGHAM,
NG12 5GG,
United Kingdom
tel: 0115 936 3143
email:
enquiries@bgs.ac.uk
Role: point of contact
British Geological Survey
Enquiries
Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth,
NOTTINGHAM,
NG12 5GG,
United Kingdom
tel: 0115 936 3143
email:
enquiries@bgs.ac.uk
Role: custodian
Data Quality
Soil geochemical surveys have been carried out at 24 urban centres in England, Scotland and Wales. Nineteen of the surveys were undertaken by the BGS as part of the Geochemical Surveys of Urban Environments (GSUE) project (Fordyce et al., 2005), whereas Wolverhampton, Manchester and Glasgow were sampled as part of larger multi-disciplinary projects. The concentrations of many potentially harmful elements including arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) are above 'natural' background in urban environments as a result of a range of contaminative processes. Urban geochemical surveying is based on the collection of samples on a 500 m grid at a density of approximately 4 samples per km2 across the urban areas. Samples were collected from open ground as close as possible to the centre of each 500 m grid cell. At each sample site, composite samples based on 5 sub-samples taken at the centre and four corners of a 20m square, were collected from the topsoil ('A' soil sample; 5-20 cm depth) and subsurface ('S'soil sample; 35-50 cm depth). Approximately 40 chemical elements were determined in the <2mm size fraction of the 'A' soils. Either the <150 micron or <2mm fraction of the 'S' soil samples were analysed. The point source urban soil chemistry data contain analysed results from these sampling campaigns. The Estimated Urban Soil Chemistry indicates the estimated topsoil As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb concentrations (mg kg-1) derived by spatial interpolation of the point source urban soil chemistry data. Urban soil geochemical data generally have large positive skewness coefficients so were transformed by taking natural logarithms. To overcome the bias associated with traditional measures of location (mean) and scale (standard deviation) for log-normal data, the inverse distance weighted (IDW) mean and standard deviation of log transformed.
Equivalent Scale:
1:
50000
INSPIRE Implementing rules laying down technical arrangements for the interoperability and harmonisation of Geology
Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services
Constraints
The copyright of materials derived from the British Geological Survey's work is vested in the Natural Environment Research Council [NERC]. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright holder, via the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Manager. Use by customers of information provided by the BGS, is at the customer's own risk. In view of the disparate sources of information at BGS's disposal, including such material donated to BGS, that BGS accepts in good faith as being accurate, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied, or to the information's suitability for any use. NERC/BGS accepts no liability whatever in respect of loss, damage, injury or other occurence however caused.
The dataset is made available to external clients under BGS Digital Data Licence terms and conditions. Revert to the IPR Section (iprdigital@bgs.ac.uk) if further advice is required with regard to permitted usage.
Metadata about metadata
a41656d9-acd1-43de-e044-0003ba9b0d98
British Geological Survey
Environmental Science Centre, Keyworth,
NOTTINGHAM,
NG12 5GG,
United Kingdom
tel: +44 115 936 3100
email:
enquiries@bgs.ac.uk
Role: point of contact
2024-04-24