Life in extraordinary concentrations (a tribute to Peter Beuge)

Environmental Sciences Europe

Table 2 Concentration ranges of selected trace elements from European soils and surface waters (total concentrations from[3]**) and in ground waters (Reimann and Birke 2010; *here 95 percentile)**

Element	Medium	Minimum	Median	90 Percentile	Maximum	N
As	topsoil	0.32	7.03	22.9	282	840
	subsoil	0.22	6.02	22.0	593	783
	surface water	<0.01	0.63	2.45	27.3	807
	groundwater	<0.03	0.235	5.15	89.8	884
Cd	topsoil	<0.01	0.145	0.48	14.1	840
	subsoil	<0.01	0.09	0.31	14.2	783
	surface water	<0.002	0.01	0.053	1.25	807
	groundwater	<0.003	0.003	0.037	1.13	884
Cr	topsoil	<3.0	60.0	122	6,230	845
	subsoil	3.0	62.0	129	2,140	787
	surface water	<0.01	0.38	1.,4	43.0	806
	groundwater	<0.2	<0.2	1.47	27.2	884
Cu	topsoil	0.81	13.0	34.0	256	840
	subsoil	0.86	13.9	34.8	125	783
	surface water	0.08	0.88	2.45	14.6	808
	groundwater	<0.1	0.272	4.66	99.7	884
Mn	topsoil	0.004	0.065	0.155	0.778	845
	subsoil	0.003	0.06	0.143	0.604	788
	surface water	<0.05	15.9	132	3,010	804
	groundwater	<0.1	0.5	249	1,870	884
Ni	topsoil	<2.0	18.0	49.8	2,690	843
	subsoil	<2.0	21.8	58.5	2,400	790
	surface water	0.03	1.91	4.72	24.6	807
	groundwater	<0.02	0.18	4.34	94.6	884
Pb	topsoil	5.3	22.6	51.1	970	843
	subsoil	<3.0	17.2	36.4	938	790
	surface water	<0.005	0.093	0.43	10.6	807
	groundwater	<0.01	0.016	0.315	2.29	884
Zn	topsoil	<3.0	52.0	111	2,900	845
	subsoil	<3.0	47.0	107	3,060	788
	surface water	0.09	2.68	10.2	310	807
	groundwater	<0.2	0.89	19.1	651	884

Solids in mg kg ^-1, water in μg L^-1
The selected data were taken without any modification from the original sources. These elements represent both potential pollutants and a very heterogeneous behaviour in soils and waters (redox, pH-conditions, fraction of organic substance).