What distribution and contents of potentially toxic and/or essential elements of mainly geogenic origin can be expected in Swiss topsoil? This question may be to a large extent answered by visualising the following maps which were produced in 2023 by Agroscope on behalf of FOEN thanks to the support of the AGIR working group, ETHZ and EAWAG.
Elements in the soil that are taken up via the food chain can be essential or harmful to living organisms, depending on the concentration range and bioavailability. In addition to identifying areas with potential contamination, knowledge of the typical levels of trace elements in Switzerland's topsoil is of central importance for control and enforcement tasks.
The Geochemical Soil Atlas of Switzerland shows the spatial distribution and most important statistical parameters of 20 elements (antimony, arsenic, lead, calcium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, sodium, nickel, mercury, sulphur, thallium, uranium, vanadium and zinc), as well as the soil parameters pH, organic carbon, nitrogen and texture of the topsoil. The Geochemical Soil Atlas was established based on a resolution of around one site per 35 km2. The Geochemical Soil Atlas represents a snapshot at the time of establishment of the element concentrations in the topsoil. The interpolated maps are used to visualise regions with high or low concentrations, but no site-specific information can be derived. They primarily represent possible natural pollution. However, diffuse inputs cannot be completely ruled out; for example, the known influence of fertilisers on the background concentration of Zn and Cd.
Based on this information, further targeted regional analyses can be carried out.
Further information
Links
Geochemical soil atlas of Switzerland
Visualization of all 20 elements until publication on Swisstopo.
Last modification 20.12.2023
