Regional patterns of the accumulation of toxic and nutrient elements in the superficial formations of Hungary

Abstract

South of the Sudetes and Tatra Mountains young sediments contain more of almost all micro- and mesoelements than those to the north of the Carpathian Mountains, which were covered by ice during the Late Pleistocene. As detailed investigations show this larger unit is a collection of many individual geochemical regions, among which there are four on the area of Hungary: the region of soil calcification in the central part of Hungary, the slope debris of the foothills of the Eastern Alps, the floodplains of the rivers of Eastern Hungary that are contaminated with the waste material of heavy industry, and the rest of the country. No general geochemical background can be given to the whole; the background value intervals for each element shall be given for each geochemical region separately. In Eastern Hungary, where those rivers flow that originate from the heavy industrial centers of Transylvania and Slovakia, the toxic elements can locally exceed the limit value. In the central part of the country, however...