Table 2.

IUGS/IAGC Global Geochemical Baselines compared to sediment quality guidelines (metal concentrations mg/kg)

	G-Baselinea (Salminen et al. 2005)	Clyde (Jones et al. 2018)	Median	Min.	Max.	The Clyde (Krom et al. 2009)	TEL	PEL
pH	5.5–7.5		6.9	4.2	7.7
TOC (%)	1.71		3.21	0.44	12.45
Conductivity (mS)			1.41	0.41	19.95
As	6–10.1	19	4.7	0.00	32.53		5.9	17
Co	8.0		7.0	2.48	30.10
Cr	21–63	94	50	0.0	185.44		37	90
Cu	14–17	16	24	3.34	314.73	90–137	37	197
Ni	16–21	43	21	8.74	58.09		18	36
Pb	14–21	19	44	4.11	222.71	109–183	35	91
Zn	60–71	83	105	10.27	448.88		123	315

TEL threshold effect level, PEL probable effect level

^aG-Baseline refers to the median concentrations (mg/kg) measured for European geochemical stream sediment baseline maps (Ccme 2001)