Point source urban soil chemistry Great Britain (version 1)

This dataset has now been superseded, please see the Measured Urban Soil Chemistry dataset. The BGS digital point source urban soil chemistry data (GB_PointSourceUrbanSoilPHE_v1) 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 data is derived from the national, high resolution urban soil geochemical data from the BGS Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment (G-BASE) project. The information is relevant for the first stage of any assessment of risks to human health required by regulatory authorities in relation to land use and also for assessing ecological risk. Although point source PHE (Potentially Harmful Element) concentrations above respective SGVs (Soil Guideline Value) do not necessarily imply a significant health risk, they do highlight the need to consider whether or not there may be a risk. 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 point source data is based on an interpretation of the records in the possession of the BGS at the time the dataset was created.

Alternate title: GB_PointSourceUrbanSoilPHE

Date (Creation): 2009

Identifier: http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13605364

Distributor

British Geological Survey - Enquiries

Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth , NOTTINGHAM , NOTTINGHAMSHIRE , NG12 5GG , United Kingdom

0115 936 3143
0115 936 3276

Point of contact

British Geological Survey - Enquiries

Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth , NOTTINGHAM , NOTTINGHAMSHIRE , NG12 5GG , United Kingdom

0115 936 3143
0115 936 3276

Custodian

British Geological Survey - Enquiries

Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth , NOTTINGHAM , NOTTINGHAMSHIRE , NG12 5GG , United Kingdom

0115 936 3143
0115 936 3276

Maintenance and update frequency: notPlanned Not planned

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

Geology

BGS Thesaurus of Geosciences

Arsenic
Cadmium
Chromium
Soil chemistry
UK Location (INSPIRE)
Lead
Nickel

dataCentre

UK Location (INSPIRE)

Keywords

NERC_DDC

Access constraints: otherRestrictions Other restrictions

Other constraints: license

Other constraints: This dataset has now been superseded, please see the Measured Urban Soil Chemistry dataset.

Other constraints: Either : (i) the dataset has not been formally approved by BGS for access and use by external clients under license; and / or (ii) the dataset contains 3rd party data or information obtained by BGS under terms and conditions that must be consulted before the dataset can be provided to, or accessed by, BGS staff or external clients. Refer to the BGS staff member responsible for the creation of the dataset if further advice is required. He / she should be familiar with the composition of the dataset, particularly with regard to 3rd party IPR contained in it, and any resultant access restrictions. This staff member should revert to the IPR Section (IPR@bgs.ac.uk) for advice, should the position not be clear.

Use constraints: otherRestrictions Other restrictions

Other constraints: 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.

Other constraints: The dataset is made available to external clients under BGS Digital Data Licence terms and conditions. Revert to the IPR Section (iprdigital@bgs.ac.uk ) if further advice is required with regard to permitted usage.

Spatial representation type: vector Vector

Denominator: 50000

Metadata language: EnglishEnglish

Topic category

Geoscientific information

Geographic identifier

GBN

Date (Revision): 2009

Geographic identifier

GREAT BRITAIN [id=139600]

Date (Creation): 1979

Begin date: 1968

End date: 2010

Supplemental Information: Report "User Guide for the British Geological Survey Urban Soil Chemistry Dataset" IR/11/039. This dataset has been replaced by Measured Urban Soil Chemistry.

Unique resource identifier: OSGB 1936 / British National Grid (EPSG::27700)

Distribution format

Shapefiles ()

Distributor

British Geological Survey - Enquiries

Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth , NOTTINGHAM , NOTTINGHAMSHIRE , NG12 5GG , United Kingdom

0115 936 3143
0115 936 3276

OnLine resource: Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment(G-BASE)
This page provides details on one of the BGS's major science budget funded projects the Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment (G-BASE). GBASE is the project that collects the data for the Point source urban soil chemistry Great Britain (version 1) data. Contact details for accessing the data are also given on the page this URL links to.

Hierarchy level: dataset Dataset

Other: dataset

Conformance result

Date (Publication): 2011

Explanation: See the referenced specification

Pass: No

Conformance result

Date (Publication): 2010-12-08

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

Pass: No

Statement: The data is derived from soil geochemical surveys have been carried out at 22 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.