The 745 (mostly color) pages of this atlas are the culmination of one of the most comprehensive environmental geochemical studies ever undertaken on a regional scale. The Barents region is an area of ca. 190,000 km2, comprising the northernmost part of Norway, Finland, and the western half of the Kola peninsula. The Central Barents region includes some of the most polluted - and at the same time - some of the most pristine areas in Europe. This report provides data for many elements for which the media concerned (mosses reflecting atmospheric deposition, b- and c- soil horizon as proxies for natural background concentrations and humus and topsoils reflecting interaction between atmosphere, geosphere and biosphere) have not previously been analysed on a large regional scale and demonstrates that many of these are part of the emission spectra from industries within the area covered. The data contained in this voluminous volume cast light on many processes governing the distribution of elements in the biosphere, pedosphere (soils) and geosphere (rocks), challenging some established theories and confirming others. It represents both an end and a beginning, in that the data are now available for use in studies related to toxicological impacts on plants, animals and humans, remediation of polluted areas, the scientific basis for action levels, baseline assessments for new development projects and other fields.weiterlesen