Identification

Title

Urban Soil Chemistry

Abstract

This dataset has now been superseded, please see the Estimated Urban Soil Chemistry dataset. There are two themes to BGS urban soil chemistry, the point source dataset and the estimated dataset. The point source urban soil chemistry data comprises the locations and concentrations (mg kg-1) of Arsenic (As). Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni) and Lead (Pb) in urban topsoil samples. The Estimated Urban Soil Chemistry data indicates the estimated geometric mean concentrations (mg kg-1) of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb in topsoil derived by spatial interpolation of the Point Source Urban Soil Chemistry data. Both urban soil chemistry datasets are derived from high resolution urban soil geochemical data from the BGS Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment (G-BASE) project. The Urban Soil Chemistry data can be used to assist Local Planning Authorities to identify those areas where a risk assessment may need to be carried out by developers. Comparison of this spatially referenced geochemical data with information on current or historic land use and geological information might help environmental professionals decide whether high PHE concentrations in topsoils can be attributed to geogenic or anthropogenic sources. The dataset is based on, and limited to, an interpretation of the records in the possession of the BGS at the time the dataset was created.

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/

protocol: HTTP

name: BGS Homepage

description: The BGS Homepage is an entry point to the BGS data services.

function: information

Unique resource identifier

code

http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13605562

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Additional information source

This dataset has now been replaced by Estimated Urban Soil Chemistry.

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2008-06-01

Keyword set

keyword value

Soil chemistry

Chromium

Lead

Cadmium

Arsenic

Nickel

UK Location (INSPIRE)

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2022

Keyword set

keyword value

Keyword set

keyword value

NERC_DDC

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-8.6500

East bounding longitude

1.7800

North bounding latitude

60.8600

South bounding latitude

49.7700

Extent

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2009

code identifying the extent

GBN

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

1979

code identifying the extent

GREAT BRITAIN [id=139600]

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

1968

End position

2010

Dataset reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2011

Frequency of update

notPlanned

Quality and validity

Lineage

Soil geochemical surveys have been carried out at 24 urban centres in England, Scotland and Wales. Nineteen of the surveys were undertaken by the BGS as part of the Geochemical Surveys of Urban Environments (GSUE) project (Fordyce et al., 2005), whereas Wolverhampton, Manchester and Glasgow were sampled as part of larger multi-disciplinary projects. The concentrations of many potentially harmful elements including arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) are above 'natural' background in urban environments as a result of a range of contaminative processes. Urban geochemical surveying is based on the collection of samples on a 500 m grid at a density of approximately 4 samples per km2 across the urban areas. Samples were collected from open ground as close as possible to the centre of each 500 m grid cell. At each sample site, composite samples based on 5 sub-samples taken at the centre and four corners of a 20m square, were collected from the topsoil ('A' soil sample; 5-20 cm depth) and subsurface ('S'soil sample; 35-50 cm depth). Approximately 40 chemical elements were determined in the <2mm size fraction of the 'A' soils. Either the <150 micron or <2mm fraction of the 'S' soil samples were analysed. The point source urban soil chemistry data contain analysed results from these sampling campaigns. The Estimated Urban Soil Chemistry indicates the estimated topsoil As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb concentrations (mg kg-1) derived by spatial interpolation of the point source urban soil chemistry data. Urban soil geochemical data generally have large positive skewness coefficients so were transformed by taking natural logarithms. To overcome the bias associated with traditional measures of location (mean) and scale (standard deviation) for log-normal data, the inverse distance weighted (IDW) mean and standard deviation of log transformed.

Conformity

Conformity report

specification

title

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2011

degree

false

explanation

See the referenced specification

Conformity report

specification

title

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2010-12-08

degree

false

explanation

See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:323:0011:0102:EN:PDF

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

The copyright of materials derived from the British Geological Survey's work is vested in the Natural Environment Research Council [NERC]. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright holder, via the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Manager. Use by customers of information provided by the BGS, is at the customer's own risk. In view of the disparate sources of information at BGS's disposal, including such material donated to BGS, that BGS accepts in good faith as being accurate, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied, or to the information's suitability for any use. NERC/BGS accepts no liability whatever in respect of loss, damage, injury or other occurence however caused.

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

organisation name

British Geological Survey

full postal address

Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth

NOTTINGHAM

NG12 5GG

United Kingdom

telephone number

0115 936 3143

facsimile number

0115 936 3276

email address

enquiries@bgs.ac.uk

responsible party role

distributor

Responsible party

organisation name

British Geological Survey

full postal address

Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth

NOTTINGHAM

NG12 5GG

United Kingdom

telephone number

0115 936 3143

facsimile number

0115 936 3276

email address

enquiries@bgs.ac.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Responsible party

organisation name

British Geological Survey

full postal address

Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth

NOTTINGHAM

NG12 5GG

United Kingdom

telephone number

0115 936 3143

facsimile number

0115 936 3276

email address

enquiries@bgs.ac.uk

responsible party role

custodian

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

organisation name

British Geological Survey

full postal address

Environmental Science Centre, Keyworth

NOTTINGHAM

NG12 5GG

United Kingdom

telephone number

+44 115 936 3100

email address

enquiries@bgs.ac.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2025-04-06

Metadata language