Christopher C Johnson

Saudi Geological Survey | SGS · Geochemistry

This Manual presents, a comprehensive overview of the standardised methods to be employed across the land surface of the Earth to map the distribution of chemical elements in rock, soil, sediment and water

The present Manual contains comprehensive instructions for selecting random sample sites (Chapter 2) and for collecting each sample medium (Chapters 3.1 to 3.5). Further, it includes methods for sample preparation and storage (Chapter 4), development of reference materials (Chapter 5), geoanalytical methods (Chapter 6), quality control procedures (...

Production of coherent and quantitative geochemical maps to portray the chemical composition of the world’s land surface is necessary, and requires the establishment of a suitable multi-media sample reference framework. One may ask the question: How can such a geochemical reference framework of multi-media samples be developed?

The collection of drainage samples from active stream channels for geochemical mapping is now a well-established procedure that has readily been adapted for environmental studies. This account details the sampling methods used by the British Geological Survey in order to establish a geochemical baseline for the land area of Great Britain. This invo...

Data conditioning procedures involve the verification, quality control and data leveling processes that are necessary to make data fit for the purpose for which it is to be used. This must all be planned at the onset of any project generating geochemical data, whether it is in the sampling phase, for example determining how sites and samples should...

OVERVIEW. The London Region Atlas of Topsoil Geochemistry (LRA) is a further step towards understanding the chemical quality of soils in London, following a previous project called London Earth carried out by the British Geological Survey (BGS) (Johnson et al., 2010[1]). The main advantage of the LRA is that it includes soil geochemical data from t...

An approach for deriving sediment background metal and metalloid element concentrations using systematically collected geochemical survey data is demonstrated in the mineralised area associated with the Ordovician-Silurian rocks in Counties Down and Armagh in Northern Ireland. Operationally defined background ranges can be used for improving the as...

Self-modelling mixture resolution has been used to identify chemical signatures in the Tellus border soils data. Seventeen geochemical components were identified, of which 9 were derived from underlying geology (high concentrations of trace metals suggest 2 of these are from mineralised sources), 4 were from secondary processes (Fe oxides and carbo...

Iodine is an essential element in the human diet and a deficiency can lead to a number of health outcomes collectively termed iodine deficiency disorders (IDD). The geochemistry of iodine is dominated by its volatility with volatilisation of organo-iodine compounds and elemental iodine from biological and non-biological sources in the oceans being...

Purpose Concern about the environmental impact of agriculture caused by intensification is growing as large amounts of nutrients and contaminants are introduced into the environment. The aim of this paper is to identify the geogenic and agricultural controls on the elemental composition of European, grazing and agricultural soils. Materials and me...

The aim of this study was to develop partial least squares (PLS) models to predict the concentrations of 45 elements in soils extracted by the aqua regia (AR) method using diffuse reflectance Fourier Transform mid-infrared (MIR; 4000–500 cm−1) spectroscopy. A total of 4130 soils from the GEMAS European soil sampling program (geochemical mapping of...

Systematic mapping of the chemical environment of urban areas from around the world have shown varying degrees of control of element distributions by the underlying parent material (PM). The purpose of the study reported here is to assess whether geogenic signatures that dominate soil chemistry in rural domains of Eastern England and which are not...

Ce, La and Y from agricultural (Ap) and grazing land (Gr) soils of Europe have been investigated using new geochemical data produced by the GEMAS (Geochemical mapping of agricultural and grazing land soils) project. Interpolated maps showing Ce, La, and Y distributions in Ap and Gr were generated using ArcView and classified with the concentration...

Agricultural (Ap, A p-horizon, 0–20 cm) and grazing land soil samples (Gr, 0–10 cm) were collected from a large part of Europe (33 countries, 5.6 million km 2) at an average density of 1 sample site/2500 km 2. The resulting more than 2 Â 2000 soil samples were air dried, sieved to <2 mm and analysed for their Hg concentrations following an aqua reg...

The revised Environmental Protection Act Part 2A contaminated land Statutory Guidance (England and Wales) makes reference to 'normal' levels of contaminants in soil. The British Geological Survey has been commissioned by the United Kingdom Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to estimate contaminant levels in soil and to defin...

The aim of this study was to develop partial least-squares (PLS) regression models using diffuse reflectance Fourier transform mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy for the prediction of the concentration of elements in soil determined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF). A total of 4130 soils from the GEMAS European soil sampling program (geochemical mapping of...

Arsenic concentrations are reported for the <2 mm fraction of ca. 2200 soil samples each from agricultural (Ap horizon, 0–20 cm) and grazing land (Gr, 0–10 cm), covering western Europe at a sample density of 1 site/2500 km2. Median As concentrations in an aqua regia extraction determined by inductively coupled plasma emission mass spectrometer (ICP...

Normal levels of contaminant concentrations in soils are referred to in the contaminated land Statutory Guidance for the Part 2A regime (Wales), published by Welsh Government, 2012. This technical guidance gives an indication as to what arsenic concentrations can be expected in soils based on results from samples systematically collected across Wal...

Normal levels of contaminant concentrations in soils are referred to in the contaminated land Statutory Guidance for the Part 2A regime (Wales), published by Welsh Government, 2012. This technical guidance gives an indication as to what BaP concentrations can be expected in soils based on results from samples systematically collected across Great B...

Normal levels of contaminant concentrations in soils are referred to in the contaminated land Statutory Guidance for the Part 2A regime (Wales), published by Welsh Government, 2012. This technical guidance gives an indication as to what cadmium concentrations can be expected in soils based on results from samples systematically collected across Wal...

Normal levels of contaminant concentrations in soils are referred to in the contaminated land Statutory Guidance for the Part 2A regime (Wales), published by Welsh Government, 2012. This technical guidance gives an indication as to what lead concentrations can be expected in soils based on results from samples systematically collected across Wales....

Normal levels of contaminant concentrations in soils are referred to in the contaminated land Statutory Guidance for the Part 2A regime (Wales), published by Welsh Government, 2012. This technical guidance gives an indication as to what copper concentrations can be expected in soils based on results from samples systematically collected across Wale...

Normal levels of contaminant concentrations in soils are referred to in the contaminated land Statutory Guidance for the Part 2A regime (Wales), published by Welsh Government, 2012. This technical guidance gives an indication as to what nickel concentrations can be expected in soils based on results from samples systematically collected across Wale...

Normal levels of contaminant concentrations in soils are referred to in the contaminated land Statutory Guidance for the Part 2A regime (Wales), published by Welsh Government, 2012. This technical guidance gives an indication as to what mercury concentrations can be expected in soils based on results from samples systematically collected across Wal...

The British Geological Survey (BGS) has been commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to give guidance on what are normal levels of contaminants in English soils in support of the Part 2A Contaminated Land Statutory Guidance. This has initially been done by studying the distribution of four contaminants – arsen...

The Geochemical Mapping of Agricultural and Grazing Land Soil (GEMAS) project provides soil geochemical data for over 50 elements at a density of 1 sample per 2500 km2 across the European continent. Median baseline total concentrations of niobium (Nb) determined by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry in the <2 mm fraction of 2108 ploughed agricultural...

The GEMAS project started in 2008 with a joint field campaign of almost all geological surveys in Europe in cooperation with some external organizations. 2211 samples of agricultural soil and 2118 samples from land under permanent grass cover were collected from a large part of Europe over a total area of about 5 million sqkm. Analysis of 53 chemic...

In May 2011 the British Geological Survey (BGS) released the results from the largest systematic urban geochemical mapping survey ever undertaken - ‘London Earth’. Soils were sampled at a density of four samples per kilometre square from the Greater London Authority Area and nearly 7000 topsoil samples were analysed for more than 50 elements by X-r...

Sixteen hundred stream sediments (<150 μm fraction) collected during regional geochemical surveys in central and SW Nigeria have high median and maximum concentrations of Zr that exceed corresponding Zr concentrations found in stream sediments collected from elsewhere in the World with similar bedrock geology. X-ray diffraction studies on a sub-set...

This paper provides an overview of regional geochemical mapping using stream sediments from central and south-western Nigeria. A total of 1569 stream sediment samples were collected and 54 major and trace elements determined by ICP-MS and Au, Pd and Pt by fire assay. Multivariate statistical techniques (e.g., correlation analysis and principal fact...

Applied geochemistry and environmental sciences invariably deal with compositional data. Classically, the original or log-transformed absolute element concentrations are studied. However, compositional data do not vary independently, and a concentration based approach to data analysis can lead to faulty conclusions. For this reason a better statist...

Cited By (since 1996): 2, Export Date: 2 October 2012, Source: Scopus

Analytical data for 10 major oxides (Al2O3, CaO, Fe2O3, K2O, MgO, MnO, Na2O, P2O5, SiO2 and TiO2), 16 total trace elements (As, Ba, Ce, Co, Cr, Ga, Nb, Ni, Pb, Rb, Sr, Th, V, Y, Zn and Zr), 14 aqua regia extracted elements (Ag, As, Bi, Cd, Ce, Co, Cs, Cu, Fe, La, Li, Mn, Mo and Pb), Loss On Ignition (LOI) and pH from 3526 soil samples from two cont...

Applied geochemistry and environmental sciences invariably deal with compositional data. Classically, the original or log-transformed absolute element concentrations are studied. However, compositional data do not vary independently, and a concentration based approach to data analysis can lead to faulty conclusions. For this reason a better statist...

Applied geochemistry and environmental sciences invariably deal with compositional data. Classically, the original or log-transformed absolute element concentrations are studied. However, compositional data do not vary independently, and a concentration based approach to data analysis can lead to faulty conclusions. For this reason a better statist...

A first impression of the geochemistry and quality of European ground water was obtained by using bottled mineral water as a sampling medium. In total, 1785 bottled waters were purchased from supermarkets of forty European countries, representing 1247 wells/drill holes/springs at 884 locations. All bottled waters were analysed for 72 parameters at...

The British Geological Survey (BGS) has been commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to give guidance on what are normal levels of contaminants in English soils in support of the Part 2A Contaminated Land Statutory Guidance. This has initially been done by studying the distribution of four contaminants – arsen...

The land surface of England has been divided into domains for purposes of defining background soil concentrations of arsenic (As), lead (Pb) and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). Within any domain for a particular substance there may be one or more factors (anthropogenic or geogenic) which guide us to expect elevated background concentrations of a substance. I...

This draft report describes the completed Work Package 1 and 2 tasks of the Defra commissioned Science and Research Project SP1008 - Establishing data on normal/background levels of soil contamination in England. Work Package 1 (WP1) has investigated the available soil data sets that can be used to determine the Normal Background Concentrations (NB...

This comprehensive text focuses on the increasingly important issues of urban geochemical mapping with key coverage of the distribution and behaviour of chemicals and compounds in the urban environment. Clearly structured throughout, the first part of the book covers general aspects of urban chemical mapping with an overview of current practice and...

IntroductionMethodologies and strategies for urban samplingChemical analysisQuality controlInterpreting and presenting the resultsLegislationCommunicationFuture trendsReferences

Using ED(P)-XRFS (Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry) analytical methodology, iodine is now routinely determined as part of a multi-element XRFS analysis package on samples (soils and stream sediments) collected for regional geochemical baseline mapping in the United Kingdom. For the first time, a high density regional geochemical ma...

This report describes the Google Earth geochemical sample information delivery Project in which basic information about G-BASE geochemical samples is displayed in Google Earth. Information downloaded from the BGS corporate Geochemistry Database is converted into standardised data files, classified by country (England, Wales, Scotland and N. Ireland...

This report describes the London Earth Dataset, specifically the file: LondonEarth_Topsoil_XRFS_v1.xlsx. It describes how the sample data were collected, prepared and analysed, describes the format of the results, and details how the data was conditioned before delivery. (http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/14402)

This report reviews the main activities in the British Geological Survey (and previously as the Institute of Geological Sciences) that have generated geochemical data. Included are; the mineral reconnaissance programme; regional geochemical mapping; groundwater geochemistry; marine and estuarine surveys; environmental geochemistry and health; radio...

Knowledge about soil quality at a European scale is urgently required for e.g., the new European Chemicals Regulation, the pending EU Soil Protection Directive and, the assessment of soil as a repository of organic carbon in a changing climate. A unique data collection on total organic matter (TOC) has been established by the Geological surveys in...

Se is essential to human and animal health but can be toxic in excess. An interest in its geochemistry has developed alongside a greater understanding of its function in a number of health conditions. Geology exerts a strong control on the Se status of the surface environment; low-Se rock-types (0.05-0.09 mg Se/kg) make up the majority of rocks occ...