Regional geochemistry is the study of the spatial variation in the
chemical composition of materials at the
surface of the Earth, on a scale of tens to thousands of kilometres. Important parameters to consider when designing or evaluating a geochemical survey are:
* Areal extent of the survey
* Sampling density
* The type of samples collected (soil, stream water, vegetation, bedrock, etc.)
* Post-collection treatment of the samples (e.g. sieving of soil samples into different particle size fractions)
* Methodology of chemical analysis
describe how the discipline has evolved from its beginnings in Russia in the 1930s. The first surveys were aimed at mineral exploration. In recent years, many surveys have emphasised a more broad-based environmental mapping approach. Numerous government agencies around the world have initiated multi-year systematic geochemical mapping projects, aimed at producing baseline geochemical maps of very large areas. See, for example, the description by of the British Geological Survey’s G-BASE project.
References
*
* {{Citation , last = Johnson , first = C.C. , last2 = Breward , first2 = N. , last3 = Ander , first3 = E.L. , last4 = Ault , first4 = L. , publication-date = November 2005 , year = 2005 , title = G-BASE: baseline geochemical mapping of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , periodical =
Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis , publisher =
Geological Society of London
The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows.
Fe ...
, volume = 5 , issue = 4 , pages = 347–357 , url = http://geea.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/5/4/347 , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110724152339/http://geea.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/5/4/347 , archivedate = 24 July 2011 , doi = 10.1144/1467-7873/05-070 , accessdate = 23 May 2008 , url-status = dead
Geochemistry