Comparison of analytical error and sampling error for contaminated soil

Investigation of soil from contaminated sites requires several sample handling steps that, most likely, will induce uncertainties in the sample. The theory of sampling describes seven sampling errors that can be calculated, estimated or discussed in order to get an idea of the size of the sampling uncertainties. With the aim of comparing the size of the analytical error to the total sampling error, these seven errors were applied, estimated and discussed, to a case study of a contaminated site. The manageable errors were summarized, showing a range of three orders of magnitudes between the examples. The comparisons show that the quotient between the total sampling error and the analytical error is larger than 20 in most calculation examples. Exceptions were samples taken in hot spots, where some components of the total sampling error get small and the analytical error gets large in comparison. Low concentration of contaminant, small extracted sample size and large particles in the sample contribute to the extent of uncertainty.