In order to explain phenomenological relations between routinely determined global soil parameters such as so called mobilizable (M) and total mobile (m) or free (s) heavy metal concentrations a simple working model is proposed. The following linear relations derived from this model are verified using data available in the literature. For cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn): ps = x pH + x log CEC + pKs ‐ log (M ‐ m); for Cd, Ni, Pb, Zn: log [(M/m) ‐ 1 ] = x pH + x log CEC ‐ log K_s; and for Cu: log [(M/m) ‐ 1] = x log CEC ‐ log K_s K_ML (K_LH)X; where K are conditional equilibrium constants and [(M/m) ‐ 1] is the apparent distribution coefficient between solid and solution.