Soil Sensivitity Due to Acid Rain and Heavy Metal Deposition in the Upper Elbe/Older Basin

Simultaneous soil acidification and deposition of heavy metals is a major concern for forest and agricultural soils of the Black Triangle Region of East Central Europe including southern former East Germany, northern Bohemia of the Czech Republic, and southern Poland. The objective of this project was to develop historical and future projections of acid deposition and heavy metals (As, Cd, Pb, Zn) to soils and to produce a preliminary map of sensitivity of soils to cadmium pollution and uptake by crops. Ultimately, we wish to assess the relative hazard and recovery times of soils to heavy metal deposition in the region. We linked emission data bases developed at the International Institute of Applied System Analysis (IIASA) to several models. The model RAINS 6.1 (Alcamo et al., 1990) was utilized for the computation of total acid deposition, and the TRACE 2 trajectory model of Alcamo, Bartnicki, and Olendrzynsky (1992) was used for the computation of heavy metal deposition from 1955 to 2010. The data bases were linked using the ARC/INFO geographic information system to produce soil maps of sensitivity to cadmium mobility, based on metals deposition, soil type, organic matter content, soil texture, and acid deposition.