Baseline concentrations of As, Ba, Be, Li, Nb, Sr and V in surface soils of Poland

Abstract

The objective of the research was to establish baseline concentrations of As, Ba, Be, Li, Nb, Sr, V in the surface soils of Poland. The sampling programme was designed to obtain data representative (∼ 130 samples) of arable soils in Poland, under typical management. Locations directly affected by pollution (e.g. point source pollution, roads with heavy traffic) were avoided. Since frequency distributions for most of the concentrations of elements in the soils, except Ba, were positively skewed, the data were transformed to logarithms (base 10) and central tendency and variation expressed as geometric means (GM) and geometric deviations (GD), respectively. For Ba the arithmetic mean and S.D. were used as a measure of average value and scatter, respectively. Mean concentrations of the elements (mg kg −1, dry wt) in the soils were: As 2.6; Ba 271.2; Be 0.71; Li 11.3; Nb 3.2; Sr 53.4 and V 18.4. The element contents of the soils correlated very well with amounts of particles <0.002 and <0.02 mm diameter ( r = 0.71–0.94), and with concentrations of Al and Fe ( r = 0.72–0.97), which indicate that the occurrence of the elements in the soils is controlled mainly by pedogenic factors. All the elements studied had significantly ( P < 0.05) higher concentrations in silty and loamy soils, considered as one group, than in sandy soils.