Choose Your Procedure Wisely: Removal of Outliers is Inappropriate for Estimating Background Concentrations of Trace Elements in Soil.

Given that the lithology of the soil parent material determines the background metal concentrations in the soil (Novoselov et al., [7]), background concentrations established in one area are not applicable in areas that differ lithologically. Keywords: Soil contamination; Metals; Heavy metals EN Soil contamination Metals Heavy metals 555 557 3 02/28/23 20230301 NES 230301 Background concentrations of trace elements in soil, that is, the natural abundances of metals and metalloids in soil, have been the subject of much scientific discussion. [Extracted from the article]