Geochemical baselines
Sampling year: 2012
Sample media: topsoil (0–25 cm): aqua regia extractable concentrations from the <2 mm grain-size fraction
Soil parent materials: glacial till 30 profiles
The Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) has studied geochemical baseline concentrations in the Kittilä Region using topsoil samples collected in 2012. Altogether, 30 samples were taken from glacial till. Aqua regia extraction was used for the analysis.
The baseline concentration of arsenic is higher than the threshold value of 5 mg/kg given in the Decree (241/2007). Cobalt, chromium, nickel and vanadium also had higher baseline concentrations than the threshold values given in the Decree.
Statistics:
The upper value of baseline variation and other statistics can be calculated from all samples taken from the Kittilä area using the 'Statistics' tool. Statistics based on the latest sampling of 30 glacial till samples are presented in the following table.
Threshold values given in the Decree of the Assessment of soil contamination and remediation needs (VNa 214/2007) can be applied to all studied elements in Kuopio while the upper limit of baseline variation was lower than the threshold values. Upper limit of baseline variation was calculated for several elements that are not included in the Decree
