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Air pollution impacts all populations globally, indiscriminately and has site-specific variation and characteristics. Airborne particulate matter (PM) levels were monitored in a typical industrial Russian city, Chelyabinsk in three destinations, one characterized by high traffic volumes and two by industrial zone emissions. The mass concentration and trace metal content of PM2.5 and PM10 were obtained from samples collected during four distinct seasons of 2020. The mean 24-h PM10 ranged between 6 and 64 μg/m3. 24-h PM2.5 levels were reported from 5 to 56 μg/m3. About half of the 24-h PM10 and most of the PM2.5 values in Chelyabinsk were higher than the WHO recommendations. The mean PM2.5/PM10 ratio was measured at 0.85, indicative of anthropogenic input. To evaluate the Al, Fe, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn concentration in PM2.5 and PM10, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used. Fe (337–732 ng/m3) was the most abundant component in PM2.5 and PM10 samples while Zn (77–206 ng/m3), Mn (10–96 ng/m3), and Pb (11–41 ng/m3) had the highest concentrations among trace elements. Total non-carcinogenic risks for children were found higher than 1, indicating possible health hazards. This study also presents that the carcinogenic risk for As, Cr, Co, Cd, Ni, and Pb were observed higher than the acceptable limit (1 × 10−6).

Abstract. Krupnova TG, Rakova OV, Plaksina AL, Gavrilkina SV, Baranov EO, Abramyan AD. 2020. Effect of urban greening and land use on air pollution in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Biodiversitas 21: 2716-2720. Chelyabinsk is a major industrial Russian city that faces diverse environmental issues, the most important of which is air emissions. The primary sources of air pollution in Chelyabinsk are industry (concrete product plants, ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy such as zinc production plants, and pulp production), thermal power stations, and transport. People have known that trees can help to reduce air pollutants for a long time. We studied 8 zones within a radius of one kilometer from state air pollution monitoring stations. Eight land-use types such as industrial category, residential category, natural and semi-natural broadleaved vegetation, natural and semi-natural coniferous vegetation, broadleaved forest, coniferous forest, artificial broadleaved vegetation, and artificial coniferous vegetation, were obtained. The response of air pollution to land-use and urban greening was analyzed. Analysis results showed that there was no correlation between industrial and residential categories of land-using and concentrations of the most dangerous air pollutants in Chelyabinsk (formaldehyde, hydrogen fluoride, and nitrogen dioxide). The dominant factor affecting urban air quality was urban greening.

Snow plays an important role in air quality and winter geochemical monitoring in the South Ural region. This study deals with the air pollution monitoring of particle-bound metal(loid) concentrations using snow cover around the deepest coal mine in Eurasia, the Korkinsky coal mine. We studied the concentrations and ratios of suspended and dissolved forms of metal(loid)s (Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sb, Sr, and Zn) in snow samples. We examined 56 snow cover samples, collected at 12 sites located north, south, east and west of the Korkinsky coal mine. All snow samples were taken in January 2020. The spectral reflectance curves, cluster analysis, and spatial distribution maps were used to evaluate the potential sources of PM-bound metal(loid)s and the potential relationship among them. The highest concentrations (μg/L) were reported for Fe, Al, and Zn. In addition to the mine influence, burning coal for residential heating was identified as the major anthropogenic metal(loid) source. It was shown that elevated concentrations of some trace metals in snow samples were associated with southerly winds and the location of spoil heaps.