Characteristics of Natural and Urban Soils - Dealing with Contaminated Sites: From Theory Towards Practical Application - page 102

sandy soil
sand dunes
marine clay
river clay
peat
loess
water
built up area
Fig. 2.4 Generalised map of dominant soil types in The Netherlands, as an example of a soil map,
based on main soil texture classes (Fraters et al. 2001 )
Light grey loams over clay are profiles having generally abrupt textural increases
from A to B horizon in profiles formed from mainly Silurian interbedded shales,
mudstones and sandstones and are probably older than Holocene. They are more
acidic in the high rainfall eastern zone than in the lower rainfall central northern
zone. These major mapping units have distinct geochemical assemblages in terms
of heavy metals.
Soil contamination generally is a superimposed change of the natural soils.
Over and above the natural geochemical characteristics of soils, the Old World
has received anthropogenic additions of trace elements, as has been the case ever
since ores were first smelted to make metal atmospheric deposition of metals. Even
in the Greenland ice cap there are traces of lead derived from the Mediterranean
smelters. Industrialisation took off on a grand scale more than two centuries ago and
contributed more atmospheric deposition of inorganic contaminants. Agricultural