Predicting soil lead migration: how can ancient church roofs help?

Soil Pb concentration data from the driplines of ancient Danish church roofs have provided a unique 800-year test of a contaminant transport model (SCEMR1) developed to predict the migration of heavy metals and radionuclides in soil. The modelʹs performance in reproducing an 800-year accumulation of Pb in the soil around the church demonstrates the usefulness of simple transport models to assess the consequences of hazardous material, such as lead from industrial activities and even radionuclides from geological disposal of nuclear fuel waste, over hundreds of years. This study demonstrates that the model can be employed for detective work concerning human activities centuries ago and can also predict when a soil profile will reach its contaminant loading potential and pose a groundwater quality threat.