The word “soil” means different things to different people. For arable farmers it is the basis for their livelihoods - the foundation for their crops. Alternatively for those in the construction industry soil is the foundation for buildings and infrastructure. Soils are hugely variable from region to region and even from field to field, and they perform a number of functions: food and fiber production, environmental interaction (between soils, air and water), support of ecological habitats and biodiversity,protection of cultural heritage,providing a platform for construction and providing raw materials. Buildings(e.g. homes, offices, schools) and transport infrastructure (e.g. railways and roads) are all built on soil and all rely on the different properties of soil. Building on the wrong type of soil can be costly in economic terms; it can also cause environmental problems - such as soil contamination, flooding and water pollution. Soil contamination is the introduction to the soil environment of chemical compounds, biological organisms or other materials which negatively affect or alter soil function.Soil contamination can occur through deposition from the atmosphere (e.g.acid rain), deliberate application (e.g.fertilizer), spillage, leakage or illegal dumping. Common soil contaminants include heavy metals, hydrocarbons,biological pathogens and substances which can acidify and/or enrich the soil with nutrients. For these reasons there is increasing pressure on governments to pass protective legislation and promote best practices for the sustainable exploitation of soil. In Europe the use of organic slurries and inorganic fertilizers is regulate protect soils and the surrounding environment.X-ray fluorescence spectrometry is used extensively for geochemical analysis. The main reasons for this are the simple sample preparation, high accuracy and precision, wide dynamic range (ppm to %) and good to excellent detection limits across large parts of the periodic table (Na – U). These benefits also apply to soil samples for elements of agricultural and environmental importance.To demonstrate the performance of the H500 , 11 heavy metals were selected that are commonly analyzed in soils and contaminated land.
