Baseline geochemical characteristics of urban areas : a record of environmental change in the English Midlands

Systematic baseline sampling of soils in urban and rural areas has been undertaken by the British Geological Survey’s (BGS) Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment (G-BASE). Using these urban and rural data in conjunction with each other provides a more powerful, and useful, interpretation of urban soil quality data to be made

Soil, grain and water chemistry and human selenium imbalances in Enshi district, Hubei Province, China

Many elements which are essential to human and other animal health in small doses can be toxic if ingested in excess. Selenium (Se), a naturally occurring metalloid element is found in all natural materials on earth including rocks, soils, waters, air, plant and animal tissues. Since the early 1930’s, it has been recognised that Se toxicity causes hoof disorders and hair loss in livestock. Se was also identified as an essential trace element to humans and other animals in the late 1950’s. It forms a vital constituent of the biologically important enzyme glutathione peroxidase which acts as an anti-oxidant preventing cell degeneration. Se deficiency has been implicated in the aetiology of several diseases including cancer, muscular dystrophy, muscular sclerosis and cystic fibrosis. Se can be assimilated in humans through several pathways including food, drinking water and inhalation of Se-bearing particles from the atmosphere. In the majority of situations, food is the most important source of Se, as levels in water are very low. The narrow range between deficiency levels (<40 pg per day) and toxic levels in susceptible people (> 900 pg per day) makes it necessary to carefully control the amount of Se in the diet. In China, Se deficiency has been linked to an endemic degenerative heart disease known as Keshan Disease (KD) and an endemic osteoarthropathy which causes deformity of affected joints, known as Kaschin-Beck Disease. These diseases occur in a geographic belt stretching from Heilongjiang Province in north-east China to Yunnan Province in the south-west. In the period between 1959 and 1970, peak KD incidence rates exceeded 40 per 100 000 (approximately 8500 cases per annum) with 1400 - 3000 deaths recorded each year. Incidence rates have since fallen to less than 5 per 100 000 with approximately 1000 new cases reported annually (Levander, 1986). Se toxicity (selenosis) resulting in hair and nail loss and disorders of the nervous system in the human population, has also been recorded in Enshi District, Hubei Province and in Ziyang County, Shanxi Province. China possesses one of the best epidemiological databases in the world on Se-related diseases which has been used in conjunction with geochemical data to demonstrate a significant geochemical control on human Se exposure. However, the precise geographical areas at risk and the geochemical controls on selenium availability have yet to be established

Equine grass sickness : the geochemical connection

A new study uses the British Geological Survey’s geochemical map to investigate whether minerals in the environment are a factor in this predominantly fatal neurodegenerative disease of horse

Soil, wheat, cabbage and drinking water iodine in relation to human iodine status and iodine deficiency disorders in Xinjiang Province, China

Iodine is an essential trace element for humans and animals. A lack in the diet can lead to iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) the most common manifestation being goitre, an enlargement of the thyroid gland in the neck. Infants born to severely Ideficient mothers may suffer cretinism and I-deficiency is the world's most common cause of preventable mental retardation. In many countries this problem has been tackled successfully using medical interventions such as the iodination of table salt. Xinjiang Province in northwest China is a remote desert region where goitre and cretinism have been reported for many years. People in this region do not like the taste of iodised salt and prefer to use local rock-salt with very low concentrations of iodine. As an alternative treatment, previous investigators added potassium-iodate to irrigation waters in an attempt to increase the I-concentrations of crops and animals in the food supply and the I-status of the population. Initial successes were reported but the long-term effectiveness of the method had not been tested. The present study aims to assess environmental controls on iodine uptake into the food chain and in Xinjiang had the opportunity to study three contrasting area

Bioaccessibility and human health risk : chromium in Glasgow

The assessment of risk to human health from contaminated land is based on a comparison of predicted human exposure to a contaminant with a Health Criteria Value (HCV) that represents an exposure below which there is thought to be little or no risk to human health. Most assessment tools, such as the Contaminated Land Exposure Assessment Model (CLEA), use estimates of exposure based on intake (consumption rate) rather than on measures of uptake (the amount of contaminant which enters the bloodstream), thus allowing comparison with HCVs, which are also based on intake apposed to uptake. Soil Guideline Values (SGVs) derived using the CLEA model assume that a soil contaminant will be taken up into the body to the same extent as from the medium of exposure used to derive the oral HCV (e.g. soluble salts of Cr(VI)). This is a conservative assumption as contaminants can be tightly bound to other soil components, thus reducing bioavailability (the fraction of a contaminant that can be absorbed by the body)

The Forum of European Geological Surveys Geochemistry Task Group 1994-1996 inventory

The Forum of European Geological Surveys (FOREGS) includes representatives from 33 European countries and is responsible for co-ordinating Geological Survey activities in Europe. The FOREGS Geochemistry Task Group was established in 1994 to develop a strategy for the preparation of European geochemical maps following the recommendations of the International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP) Project 259 ‘International Geochemical Mapping’ (now the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) /International Association of Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry (IAGC) Working Group on Global Geochemical Baselines). The FOREGS geochemistry programme is aimed at preparing a standardised European geochemical baseline to IGCP-259 standards. The principal aims of this dataset will be for environmental purposes, as a baseline for the assessment of the extent and distribution of contaminated land in the context of variations in the natural geochemical background, but it will also have applications in resource assessment and for the development of policy for the sustainable management of metalliferous mineral and other resources. The first phase of the programme was the compilation of an inventory of geochemical data based on the results of a questionnaire completed by Geological Surveys and related organisations throughout the FOREGS community. The results show that the sample types which have been used most extensively are stream sediment (26% coverage), surface water (19% coverage) and soil (11% coverage). Stream sediments have been collected using a narrow range of mesh sizes (< 150–< 200 μm), but soil samples have been collected according to two different conventions: some surveys used a similar mesh size range to that used for stream sediments while others employed the < 1000 or < 2000 μm fractions traditionally used by soil surveys. Sample densities range from 1 sample per 0.5 km2 to 1 per 3500 km2. Various analytical methods have been used, but most of the available data have been calibrated using international reference materials, and data for the most important of the potentially harmful elements (PHEs) are available for most datasets. Systematic radiometric data are available for only a small proportion of Europe, a situation which compares very unfavourably with that in Australia, North America, the former Soviet Union and many developing countries. Recommendations are made for increasing the compatibility of geochemical methods between national geochemical surveys as a basis for the preparation of a series of European geochemical maps. The next stage of the FOREGS Geochemistry Task Group will be the collection of the Global Reference Network of samples against which to standardise national datasets according to the methods recommended in the final report of the IGCP 259 programme

Developments to GRASP 2012/13. GRASP: a GIS tool to assess pollutant threats to shallow groundwater in the Glasgow area

The British Geological Survey (BGS) is developing a geographic information system (GIS)- based prioritisation tool known as GRASP (GRoundwater And Soil Pollutants). GRASP identifies and prioritises threats to shallow groundwater quality from the leaching and downward movement of metal pollutants in the soil and shallow sub-surface environment. Whilst developed for Glasgow, ultimately, its application should be wider. The GRASP tool is being developed as part of the Clyde and Glasgow Urban Super-Project (CUSP) and aims to aid urban planning and sustainable development by providing a broad-scale assessment of threats to groundwater quality across the Glasgow conurbation. This report describes the developments to GRASP in 2012 and 2013. It should be read in conjunction with the BGS internal reports IR/08/057 (Graham et al., 2008), IR/09/026 (Ó Dochartaigh et al., 2009) and IR/10/034 (Fordyce and Ó Dochartaigh, 2011), which describe in detail the initial creation and development of GRASP. The following developments to GRASP were made in 2012/13: Refined GRASP methodology, to improve the way that soil leaching potential is combined with soil metal concentrations within the prioritisation too

Contamination

Soil contamination occurs when substances are added to soil, resulting in increases in concentrations above background or reference levels. Pollution may follow from contamination when contaminants are present in amounts that are detrimental to soil quality and become harmful to the environment or human health. Contamination can occur via a range of pathways including direct application to land and indirect application from atmospheric deposition. Contamination was identified by SEPA (2001) as a significant threat to soil quality in many parts of Scotland. Towers et al. (2006) identified four principal contamination threats to Scottish soils: acidification; eutrophication; metals; and pesticides. The Scottish Soil Framework (Scottish Government, 2009) set out the potential impact of these threats on the principal soil functions. Severe contamination can lead to “contaminated land” [as defined under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act (1990)]. This report does not consider the state and impacts of contaminated land on the wider environment in detail. For further information on contaminated land, see ‘Dealing with Land Contamination in Scotland’ (SEPA, 2009). This chapter considers the causes of soil contamination and their environmental and socio-economic impacts before going on to discuss the status of, and trends in, levels of contaminants in Scotland’s soils

GSUE: urban geochemical mapping in Great Britain

The British Geological Survey is responsible for the national strategic geochemical survey of Great Britain. As part of this programme, the Geochemical Surveys of Urban Environments (GSUE) project was initiated in 1992 and to date, 21 cities have been mapped. Urban sampling is based upon the collection of top (0.05 to 0.20 m) and deeper (0.35 to 0.50 m) soil samples on a 500 m grid across the built environment (1 sample per 0.25 km2). Samples are analysed for c. 46 total element concentrations by X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRFS), pH and loss on ignition (LOI) as an indicator of organic matter content. The data provide an overview of the urban geochemical signature and because they are collected as part of a national baseline programme, can be readily compared with soils in the rural hinterland to assess the extent of urban contamination. The data are of direct relevance to current UK land use planning, urban regeneration and contaminated land legislative regimes. An overview of the project and applications of the data to human health risk assessment, water quality protection and contaminant source identification are presented

The geoscience context for Europe's urban sustainability – lessons from Glasgow and beyond (CUSP): preface

In 2007, the proportion of the world’s population living in urban areas exceeded that in rural environments for the first time in history. The global urban population is expected to rise by 66 % by 2050 (UN 2014). This threatens the sustainability of cities, which face huge infrastructure and planning challenges to meet the growing demand for urban living and to provide equitable economic and social benefits as well as environmental protection across communities. The United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals acknowledge this in the UN’s Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Of the 17 ‘Global Goals’, Goal 11 in particular focuses on sustainability (to achieve sustainable cities and communities by 2030), and other goals in the Agenda are also relevant to sustainable cities (e.g., Goal 6 addresses clean water and sanitation). Despite these goals, the potential importance, and contribution, of the subsurface to sustainable urban development (a combination of economic, social and environmental factors) is generally poorly appreciated. The importance of the subsurface in relation to sustainable development is exemplified by the general recognition in the construction industry across the UK, Europe and the wider world that insufficient understanding of subsurface ground conditions is a key factor in overspending, project delays, overly conservative design and a barrier to development (e.g., Clayton 2001; Parry 2009; Baynes 2010). To address this, in the city of Glasgow (UK), the British Geological Survey (BGS) has been working in partnership with Glasgow City Council and other organisations over a number of years. Under the Clyde-Urban Super-Project (CUSP), three-dimensional (3D) and four-dimensional (4D) subsurface models and other geoscience datasets (geochemistry, groundwater, engineering geology) have been developed specifically as an aid to planning and development. This Special Issue of the Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh comprises a collection of papers presented at the Conference on ‘The Geoscience Context for Europe’s Urban Sustainability: Lessons from Glasgow and Beyond (CUSP)’, held in Glasgow, 29–30 May 2014. The Conference attracted delegates from 20 European countries and included over 40 oral and poster presentations, highlighting the challenges in understanding urban ground conditions to aid city regeneration and sustainable development. In addition to showcasing the work of the CUSP project in Glasgow, presentations included examples of urban subsurface characterisation from Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. Thirteen of the conference contributions are presented in this volume. These focus mainly on the CUSP project. CUSP has also been used as an exemplar for other cities in Europe and the wider world. Lessons learnt in Glasgow have been shared especially through the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action (SUB-URBAN: TU1206). This has focused on sustainable urban subsurface use, and transforming relationships between those who develop urban subsurface knowledge and those who can benefit most from it – the planners and developers of the cities of tomorrow. Therefore, SUB-URBAN has mirrored the original intentions, and the achievements, of CUSP and developed them more widely