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Geochemically Appropriate Levels for Soil Recovery Facilities

Geochemically Appropriate Levels for Soil Recovery Facilities

​​​Geological Survey Ireland in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency has developed Geochemically Appropriate Levels (GALs) for Soil Recovery Facilities specifically in relation to metals and metalloids in uncontaminated soil and stone. This is to support the Environmental Protection Agency’s Guidance on waste acceptance criteria at authorised soil recovery facilities.​ The GALs vary across the country by geochemical domain, to account for the natural variation in soil metal contents we see in Ireland. There are 7 geochemical domains encompassing the main soil parent materials and rock types.

Soil Recovery Facilities Domains Map 

To look up Geochemically Appropriate Levels for a particular location, please click on the Map Viewer.

For further detail on Geochemically Appropriate Levels please see the following:​

Report (PDF 29.1MB)

Executive summary  (PDF, 453KB)

A key data data gap identified in this study has been addressed by the project ‘Geochemical characterisation of the Dublin Boulder Clay‘