%0 Journal Article
%T Life in extraordinary concentrations (a tribute to Peter Beuge)
%A J£¿rg Matschullat
%J Environmental Sciences Europe
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/2190-4715-24-25
%X Despite millennia of human soil use (agriculture and forestry) and perceived abuse (mining etc.), most of Europe¡¯s soils are on the continental scale more strongly influenced by natural forces (primarily geology/lithology) than by human impact. Even in large conurbations (e.g., Berlin), baseline values can be encountered in the city centre and in spatial proximity to highly contaminated sites. In a country like Brazil, where significant human impact started only about 500£¿years ago, challenges appear more demanding, due to the very old age of most soils and a radical depletion of nutrients. Yet, relatively recent site-specific to local contamination appears almost negligible in comparison, again corroborating the dominant role of natural forces and processes (geology, climate). Both regions, representing significant northern and southern hemispheric conditions, show for most chemical elements a very wide natural concentration range.The objective necessity to clean up polluted sites and to avoid additional soil pollution can be strongly supported by acknowledging the highly localized true contamination of soils. Related governmental regulations (threshold values etc.) should be applied with a deeper understanding for natural variability and for real risks involved in positive pedogeochemical anomalies, thus saving money and frustration.Soil protection is one of the global challenges to be met by the growing humankind. The topic is partly directly related to further world population growth; at least to the mid 21st Century, when 9 billion people are expected to populate the planet [1]. The term ¡°soil protection¡±, in analogy to ¡°species protection, water and climate protection¡± already suggests that this basic life-sustaining resource is under pressure. The book ¡°Dirt¡± by [2], vividly illustrates these pressures, their causes and historical development, and shows pathways to solutions. Yet, major misperceptions persist not only amongst laypeople, when it comes to soil
%K Pedogeochemistry
%K Threshold values
%K Background or baseline values
%K Europe
%K Brazil
%K Australia
%U http://www.enveurope.com/content/24/1/25