Risk-based characterisation of lead in urban soils

Urban soils are highly complex and heterogeneous mixtures of many contributing materials and associated contaminants as a result of many different processes. This is especially true of soils in those urban areas of Europe that have been or still are centres of industrial activity. Such centres contain a legacy of anthropogenic chemicals deposited in the soil environment and these chemical substances may pose potential risks to human health via a number of possible exposure pathways, including soil ingestion. Nevertheless, near surface soil lead concentrations in Wolverhampton show a degree of spatial correlation on a city scale that allows spatial interpolation to be carried out at conurbation level. Systematic geochemical soil surveys of urban areas followed by variography to establish spatial correlation and conditional simulation to map probabilities of exceeding risk-based assessment criteria have a valuable role to play in both land use planning and environmental protection.