Background levels of soil beryllium in several countries

Beryllium and aluminium contents in uncontaminated soils from six countries are reported. The means and ranges of beryllium in the surface soils were as follows: 1.43(0.20-5.50)μg g(-1) in Thailand (n=28), 0.7 (0.31-1.03) μg g(-1) in Indonesia (n=12), 0.99(0.82-1.32) μg g(-1) in New Zealand (n=3), 0.58(0.08-1.68)μg g(-1) in Brazil (n=16), 3.52(2.49-4.97)μg g(-1) in the former Yugoslavia (n=10), and 1.56(1.01-2.73) μg g(-1) in the former USSR (n=8). The mean and range of beryllium contents of the surface soils in Japan (1.17(0.27-1.95)μg g(-1) n=27) are situated within the values of the soils from these countries except for the Yugoslav soils derived from limestones. The mean of the mean beryllium contents of the surface soils in all these countries is 1.42 μg g(-1) which will be used as a tentative average content of beryllium in uncontaminated surface soils, except for the soils derived from parent materials high in beryllium content. The beryllium contents of the subsoils were higher than those of the surface soils in New Zealand and Yugoslavia as is the case with Japan. The correlation coefficient between the contents of beryllium and aluminium in all the soil samples (n=113) including surface soils and subsoils was 0.505 (p < 0.001).