Dissolved cadmium content and Oxalate-extractable iron in EU and China

This datasets includes the bioavailable fraction of Cadmium in European and Chinese topsoils. In addition, the total cadmium content is also available. Oxalate-extractable iron is important for Cd fixation and has been also made available in this dataset.
Resource Type: 
Datasets
Soil Threats Data
Registration is requested: 
Yes
Year: 
2025
Themes: 
Soil Contamination
Soil Contamination›Cadmium in topsoils
Keywords: 
soil contamination;

Title:Dissolved cadmium content and Oxalate-extractable iron in EU and China.
Description: Bioavailability and risks of HMs in agricultural soils remain one of the important obstacles to achieving global food safety and security. Evaluating heavy metals bioavailable is crucial for comprehensive soil contamination assessment but challenging at large scales due to complex and resource-intensive analytical procedures, and the amount of dissolved metal in soils represents the relative solubility and potential mobility of cadmium, which is a key factor determining bioavailability. Here, we developed a geochemical-integrated machine learning framework using multi-source data to predict cadmium speciation distribution in European and Chinese non-industrial topsoils.Average total cadmium content in Chinese topsoils (0.41 mg kg−1) was ~10.8% higher than the Europe, while average dissolved cadmium content (113.2 μg L−1) was ~16.8% higher as in the EU the average dissolved cadmium content is  96.9 μg L−1. These conclusions are based on 1,472 measured samples in China and 14,108 estimated points in Europe. As Oxalate-extractable iron (ferryhydrite content) is related to higher bioavailability of cadmium, we also made available this dataset. 

Spatial coverage: European Union (EU) -  China
Pixel size: 10km (Dissolved cadmium measured as μg/L), 22km (Oxalate-extractable iron measured as mg per Kg)
Temporal coverage:  2009
Projection: WGS84

This data package includes 5 datasets:

  •     Dissolved cadmium content in the EU
  •     Dissovled cadmium content in China
  •     Oxalate-extractable iron in the EU
  •     Oxalate-extractable iron in China
  •     Total cadmium content in China

The datasets represent the Figure 3 and figure S17 of the publication.

Note: The total cadmium content in the EU in higher resolution is made available here. 

Reference: Zhang, N., Lv, C., Li, Y., Panagos, P., Ballabio, C., Man, J., Gu, X., Zhao, F.J., Wang, P., Liu, X. and Qian, Y., 2025. Geochemical-integrated machine learning approach predicts the distribution of cadmium speciation in European and Chinese topsoils. Communications Earth & Environment, 6(1), 548. DOI: 10.1038/s43247-025-02516-6.

 

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Notification:

  • The data provided has been prepared for use by internal research activities in the Joint Research Centre (JRC) Ispra.This work was done in collaboration of JRC with Chinese Academy of Science and other well-known research Institutes.
  • The data are the result of JRC research activities and are primarily made available for further research. The JRC does not accept any liability whatsoever for any error, missing data or omission in the data, or for any loss or damage arising from its use. The JRC agrees to provide the data free of charge but is not bound to justify the content and values contained in the databases.
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Reference of source (Citations) :

Zhang, N., Lv, C., Li, Y., Panagos, P., Ballabio, C., Man, J., Gu, X., Zhao, F.J., Wang, P., Liu, X. and Qian, Y., 2025. Geochemical-integrated machine learning approach predicts the distribution of cadmium speciation in European and Chinese topsoils. Communications Earth & Environment, 6(1), 548. DOI: 10.1038/s43247-025-02516-6

When making reference to the ESDAC

  • Panagos, P., Van Liedekerke, M., Borrelli, P., Köninger, J., Ballabio, C., Orgiazzi, A., Lugato, E., Liakos, L., Hervas, J., Jones, A.  Montanarella, L. 2022. European Soil Data Centre 2.0: Soil data and knowledge in support of the EU policies. European Journal of Soil Science, 73(6), e13315. DOI: 10.1111/ejss.13315
  • Panagos P., Van Liedekerke M., Jones A., Montanarella L., “European Soil Data Centre: Response to European policy support and public data requirements”; (2012) Land Use Policy, 29 (2), pp. 329-338. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.07.003
  • European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC), esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu, European Commission, Joint Research Centre