soil acidification

Łódź region

fertilization

air pollution

soil acidifi cation

Łódź Province

Physicochemical parameters

Pollution

Atmospherical pollution control

Toxic substances

Others

Our study shows the results of monitoring of soil acidifi cation in Łódź Province and compares them to results for all of Poland. Łódź Province is ranked sixth in the country in terms of the highest emissions of particulate and gaseous pollutants, and represents Polish areas undergoing strong anthropogenic transformation. The substantial proportion of light soils and the considerable impact of human activity determine the susceptibility of the soils in the region to acidifi cation, which deteriorates their quality. In terms of the proportion of very acidic soils, this is the second-highest region in Poland. The presented results clearly indicate that – despite the three-fold reduction of calcium fertilizer application in the last decade – the soil acidifi cation status in Łódź Province and across Poland has improved slightly. It seems that a major cause of improvement in soil acidifi cation is the substantial reduction of SO₂ emissions in recent years. It has been shown that pollutant emissions have a negative impact on the content of available magnesium and, to a lesser extent, on the content of available potassium; in turn, it does not affect the level of available phosphorus.