The paper deals with the amounts of total and plant available forms of heavy metals (Pb, Cr and Cu) and relation between soil
properties in three catenas in postglacial area of the Łyna River valley, NE Poland. The results were presented on the background
of four geochemical landscapes distinguished within the study area: eluvial or trans-eluvial, eluvial accumulative, trans-superaqual
and super-aqual. The average total content of heavy metals amounted to: Pb – 14.05 mg kg-1 d.m., Cu – 9.96 mg kg-1 d.m.
and Cr – 46.25 mg kg-1 d.m. The share of plant available forms in total forms of HM amounted on average: Pb – 30.13%, Cu –
37.10% and Cr – 1.28%.
In spite of relatively low levels of heavy metals in soils of the studied area, the amounts of metallic forms varied between
geochemical types of landscape. The analysis, supported by PCA ordination, resulted in significant relations between heavy
metals contents and amounts of organic matter and clay fraction (< 2 μm) as well as inverse relation to the share of sandy and
gravel fraction in soil. The most abundant in heavy metals were soils in superaqual geochemical landscape (Pb, Pba, Cu and Cua)
and eluvial accumulative geochemical landscape (Cr and Cra). Based on the amounts of accumulated metals, the geochemical
landscape types created the following order: super-aqual > trans-super-aqual > eluvial accumulative > eluvial / trans-eluvial.