Geochemical Soil Atlas of Switzerland - Distribution of Toxic Elements

Abstract

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.