Geochemical Soil Atlas of Switzerland - Distribution of Toxic Elements
Jolanda E. Reusser,
Maja B. Siegenthaler,
Lenny H.E. Winkel,
Daniel Wächter,
Ruben Kretzschmar,
Reto G. Meuli
Affiliations
Jolanda E. Reusser
Dept. Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, CH-8092 Zurich
Maja B. Siegenthaler
Department of Water Resources and Drinking Water, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Eawag, CH-8600 Dübendorf
Lenny H.E. Winkel
Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zurich, CH-8092 Zurich, Department of Water Resources and Drinking Water, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Eawag, CH-8600 Dübendorf
Daniel Wächter
Swiss Competence Center for Soil, Bern University of Applied Sciences, CH-3052 Zollikofen
Ruben Kretzschmar
Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zurich, CH-8092 Zurich
Reto G. Meuli
Research Division Agroecology and Environment, Agroscope, CH-8046 Zurich
Chemical elements such as copper and molybdenum are essential for animal and human health but may become toxic at elevated concentrations depending on the exposure and intake rate. Other elements such as mercury pose a threat to human health at already low concentrations. The soil acts as the main source of these elements for plant uptake and is thus driving accumulation along the food chain. However, in Switzerland, no nationwide information on elemental distributions in soils has existed up to now. The geochemical soil atlas of Switzerland will fill this gap by presenting the concentration ranges and the spatial distribution of 20 elements in the topsoil. In this summary, we present the methodological approaches and some main findings of the atlas with a focus on toxic elements as well as elements that can be or are toxic at higher concentrations.
