GEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES OF ACCUMULATION OF HEAVY METALS IN THE LANDSCAPES OF THE SOUTHERN URALS

• Main Authors: Mikhail V. Shabanov, Grigory B. Strekulev
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Tomsk Polytechnic University 2021-01-01
• Series: Известия Томского политехнического университета: Инжиниринг георесурсов
• Subjects: soil pollution; soil elemental composition; total pollution index; geoaccumulation index; geochemical anomalies
• Online Access: http://izvestiya.tpu.ru/archive/article/view/3011/2395
• ISSN: 2500-1019; 2413-1830

Relevance.Various types of landscapes, which are intensively used both in agricultural and mining productionare developed in the study area. Mining and processing of ore raw materials involves chemical elements in the cycle, which enter the surrounding landscapes by aerogenic or atmogenic means and pollute them. This leads to transformation of landscapes, there are man-made and geochemical anomalies. Therefore, the ecological and geochemical characteristics allow us identifying the main technogenic factors that affect negatively the surrounding landscapes. The main aim of the research is to assess the geochemical levels of heavy metals in natural and anthropogenic landscapes. Objects: soil of natural and man-made landscapes. Methods: selection and preparation of soils, determination of the elemental composition of soils by instrumental inversion voltammetric method. Results.The paper introduces the results of geochemical studies of soils of natural and technogenic landscapes (the Western part of the Chelyabinsk region and the East of the Republic of Bashkortostan). The background content for heavy metals Zn, Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni, and Co was calculated to assess the degree of contamination. Several types of landscapes (mountain, foothill, steppe, and forest) were identified in the study area. The impact of mining and metallurgical enterprises of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, quarry-dump arrays of ore material and non-metallic on soil pollution was evaluated. It was found that the maximum excess of the background content of metals is in the vicinity of metallurgical plants, the lowest degree is near the quarry-dump systems. According to the total pollution index, it is found that the landscape soils are classified from medium to severe pollution. According to the geoaccumulation index, the main centers of pollution were identified and maps were drawn up.