| Title | Using soil geochemical data to estimate the range of background element concentrations for ecological and human-health risk assessments |
| Download | Downloads |
| Author | Rencz, A N; Garrett, R G; Kettles, I M; Grunsky, E C; McNeil, R J |
| Source | Geological Survey of Canada, Current Research (Online) no. 2011-9, 2011, 26 pages, https://doi.org/10.4095/288746 |
| Year | 2011 |
| Publisher | Natural Resources Canada |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| Related | This publication is related to Rencz, A N; Kettles, I M;
(2011). Presentations and recommendations from the workshop on the role of geochemical data in environmental and human health risk assessment, Halifax, 2010, Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 6645 |
| File format | pdf (Adobe Acrobat Reader) |
| Province | British Columbia; Alberta; Saskatchewan; Manitoba; Ontario; Quebec; New Brunswick; Nova Scotia; Prince Edward Island; Newfoundland and Labrador; Northwest Territories; Yukon; Nunavut |
| NTS | 1; 2; 3; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39; 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48; 49; 52; 53; 54; 55; 56; 57; 58; 59; 62; 63; 64; 65;
66; 67; 68; 69; 72; 73; 74; 75; 76; 77; 78; 79; 82; 83; 84; 85; 86; 87; 88; 89; 92; 93; 94; 95; 96; 97; 98; 99; 102; 103; 104; 105; 106; 107; 114O; 114P; 115; 116; 117; 120; 340; 560 |
| Lat/Long WENS | -141.0000 -50.0000 90.0000 41.7500 |
| Subjects | geochemistry; soils science; environmental geology; geochemical interpretations; geochemical analyses; environmental studies; environmental impacts; ecology; soil geochemistry; soils; soil studies; soil
properties; pollution; pollutants; arsenic; lead |
| Illustrations | location maps; tables; plots; histograms |
| |
| Program | Ecosystems Risk Characterization, Environmental Geoscience |
| Links | Canadian Database of Geochemical Surveys, downloadable
files
|
| Links | Banque de données de levés géochimiques du Canada,
fichiers téléchargeables
|
| Released | 2011 12 09 |
| Abstract | A workshop on the role of geochemical data in ecological and human-health risk assessments was sponsored by Health Canada and Environment Canada in 2010. Participants from Geological Survey of Canada
developed recommendations for acquiring and analyzing soil geochemical data to support risk assessment and outlined a procedure for estimating geochemical background, released as GSC Open File 6645. The following practices are proposed: 1) the
collection of soil samples from pedologic horizons (the C, in particular) rather than depth-based intervals; 2) use of a spatially random sample design; 3) analysis of the less than 2 mm fraction (without ball or ring pulverizing) as a standard.
Additionally, analysis of the silt-sized and finer fraction (<0.063 mm) provides more information on the mineral phases and residence sites of elements in soils and the patterns of regional variation; 4) dissolution using the USEPA 3050B aqua regia
variant. Additionally, a method for estimating the amount of loosely held 'bioaccessible' amounts of the total-element concentration should be considered (e.g. water leach); 5) archiving of sample splits; and 6) evaluation of chemical data through
the insertion, analysis, and monitoring of QA/QC samples.
The procedure for estimating geochemical background is based on plotting maps and graphs using the 'rgr' library and functions in R. R is an open source software environment and is
available through CRAN mirror sites linked to http://www.r-project.org/. Metadata for 700 geochemical surveys carried out by the GSC and provincial agencies can be accessed through the Geochemical Data Repository at Natural Resources
Canada. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 288746 |
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