Mercury baseline levels in Flemish soils (Belgium)

It is important to establish contaminant levels that are normally present in soils to provide baseline data for pollution studies. Mercury is a toxic element of concern. This study was aimed at assessing baseline mercury levels in soils in Flanders. In a previous study, mercury contents in soils in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental pollution (1987) 2005-03, Vol.134 (1), p.173-179
Main Authors: Tack, Filip M.G., Vanhaesebroeck, Thomas, Verloo, Marc G., Van Rompaey, Kurt, Van Ranst, Eric
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Background concentrations
Baseline concentrations
Belgium
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Exact sciences and technology
Mercury
Mercury - analysis
polluted soils
Pollution
Pollution sources. Measurement results
Pollution, environment geology
Reference Values
Soil and sediments pollution
soil chemical properties
Soil Pollutants - analysis
soil pollution
Soils
Spatial distribution
statistics
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Summary:It is important to establish contaminant levels that are normally present in soils to provide baseline data for pollution studies. Mercury is a toxic element of concern. This study was aimed at assessing baseline mercury levels in soils in Flanders. In a previous study, mercury contents in soils in Oost-Vlaanderen were found to be significantly above levels reported elsewhere. For the current study, observations were extended over two more provinces, West-Vlaanderen and Antwerpen. Ranges of soil Hg contents were distinctly higher in the province Oost-Vlaanderen (interquartile range from 0.09 to 0.43 mg/kg) than in the other provinces (interquartile ranges from 0.7 to 0.13 and 0.7 to 0.15 mg/kg for West-Vlaanderen and Antwerpen, respectively). The standard threshold method was applied to separate soils containing baseline levels of Hg from the data. Baseline concentrations for Hg were characterised by a median of 0.10 mg Hg/kg dry soil, an interquartile range from 0.07 to 0.14 mg/kg and a 90% percentile value of 0.30 mg/kg. The influence of soil properties such as clay and organic carbon contents, and pH on baseline Hg concentrations was not important. Maps of the spatial distribution of Hg levels showed that the province Oost-Vlaanderen exhibited zones with systematically higher Hg soil contents. This may be related to the former presence of many small-scale industries employing mercury in that region. Increased mercury levels may reflect human activity.
ISSN:0269-7491
1873-6424
DOI:10.1016/j.envpol.2004.05.031