EUROPEAN REFERENCE SOILS AS A COMMON BASIS FOR THE SOIL TESTING OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICALS IN THE EU

Based on a multivariate statistical evaluation of geoscientific maps o f the EU-member states five regionally representative soils have been identified, collected, prepared and characterized as reference soils f or chemical testing in the EU according to the respective OECD testgui delines and Annex V of EU-Directive 19/831/EEC. A second edition of th ese so-called EUROSOILS has been prepared and their characteristics ha ve been compared to those of the first version. It could be shown that in this manner a common basis of reference soils for a broad variety of abiotic soil studies can be offered to the interested laboratories engaged in this type of studies. Thus, an improvement in the comparabi lity and quality of environmental data for dangerous chemical substanc es is obtained. The applicability of the EUROSOILS for the development and validation of screening methods and mathematical models, e.g. QSA R, for the quick but accurate estimation of soil relevant parameters, e.g. K-oc is discussed.