Soil substances in Germany

In addition to substances that serve as nutrients for the plants, there are also pollutants in the soil which in higher concentrations can impair the growth of plants and animals. Some substances (e.g., nickel) are essential in low concentrations but in higher concentrations they are toxic. The human being mostly is responsible for excessively high pollutant concentrations; However, there are naturally also increased levels of pollutants, which are mostly derived from the parent material. Background values describe the typical natural concentrations of these substances in our soils. The storage of pollutants and their possible degradation in the soil prevent the transfer of the pollutants into the groundwater. The theme maps for the substances in soils of Germany are based on the non-and landuse stratified soil map of Germany 1: 1.000.000 (BUEK1000, BUEK1000N) and data sets from the FISBo laboratory and profile database and 175 data sets from literature.