Contents of Potentially Risk Elements in Natural and Reclaimed Soils of the Sokolov Region

Abstract

Anthropogenic soils are formed by human activities. The contents of potentially risk elements are one of the most important criteria of the exploitability of such soils for the agricultural production. The aim of this paper is to assess the contents of the selected potentially risk elements in 16 areas of the Sokolov region, including 5 reclaimed areas and 11 natural soils. 116 sampling locations were analysed in total. Another aim is to analyse the relationships between the elements, using multivariate statistical methods. The contents of the risk elements studied were in most cases under the limit values. In some cases, as with Pb, they were very low compared to the limit values. In the principal component analysis, four components explaining 74% of total variability were selected. The first component (30.2% of variability) showed strong correlations with Mn, V, Ni, and Cu contents. The second component (15.8% of variability) correlated with As and Be. The third component (14.3%) correlated with Pb and Cd. The fourth component (13.7%) correlated with Zn and Cr. The mean scores of each area were projected into the component plots, which enables the assessment of the relative importance of each group of elements in each particular area. The reclaimed and the natural soils are clearly distinguished. It can be concluded that the contents of the risk elements studied do not currently present any important problem in the reclaimed areas. Nevertheless, the situation should be further monitored.