Urban Topsoil Heavy Metal Concentrations in Great Britain

British Geological Survey (BGS) digital point source data provides locations and concentrations of Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Nickel, and Lead in urban topsoil samples. The dataset is derived from the national G-BASE project for assessing human health and ecological risks related to land use. It assists in identifying areas requiring detailed risk assessments by environmental professionals.

Use Cases

• Map concentrations of Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Nickel, and Lead to identify urban soil contamination hotspots.
• Compare heavy metal concentrations against Soil Guideline Values (SGVs) to prioritize areas for regulatory health risk assessments.
• Analyze spatial patterns of Potentially Harmful Elements (PHEs) to distinguish between geogenic and anthropogenic contamination sources.
• Support land-use planning decisions by correlating soil chemistry data with current or historic land use information.

Strengths

• Data originates from the authoritative British Geological Survey (BGS) and its national G-BASE project.
• Includes concentrations for five specific heavy metals (Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Nickel, Lead) relevant to health and ecological risk.
• Designed for regulatory use in the first stage of human health risk assessments required by authorities.

Limitations

• Dataset is noted as superseded, indicating it is not the current version and may contain outdated information.
• Point source data is based on an interpretation of records available at the time of creation, which may be incomplete.
• Specific sample count, geographic precision, and temporal coverage are not provided in the input.

Provenance

Source

British Geological Survey (BGS)

Collection Method

Derived from high-resolution urban soil geochemical data from the BGS Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment (G-BASE) project.

Time Range

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Freshness

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Geography

Great Britain (urban areas)