Chemical Contamination of Soil on Urban Territories With Aluminum Production in the Baikal Region, Russia

Abstract

The study was conducted in 2 urbanized areas of the Baikal region of Russia. These are the cities of Shelekhov and Tayshet with their suburbs. Aluminum production has been carried out in Shelekhov for over 60 years and in Tayshet for 5 years. The purpose of the study was to determine the pollution of urban soils with toxic elements—Al, F, Be, Li, as well as Cr, Ni, Pb, and so on under the influence of industrial enterprises (aluminum and cable plants, thermal power plants). Also, the purpose of the research was to determine the effect of increased fluorite (F) in the environment on children’s health. Pure aluminum is used much less frequently than in alloys. The addition of various elements (Be, B, Li, Fe, Si, Mg, Mn, Zr, Ag, Pb, Cu, Ni, and others) increases the hardness, density, thermal conductivity, and other properties of the alloys. The area of high F content in urban soil is 15 times higher than the regional context. The maximum content of Na, Be, and Al is 2 to 4 times higher than the regional background. An increased Li content is marked only near aluminum smelters. The F content in urine samples from children living in areas with long-term pollution exposure (Shelekhov) is 1.5 to 2 times higher than in the group of children with a short exposure period (Tayshet).

Source Apportionment of Particulate Matter in Urban Snowpack Using End-Member Mixing Analysis and Positive Matrix Factorization Model

“…The excavation and construction activities could be the minor Si sources in winter. The lowest Ca/Al, Fe/Al, Si/Al ratios and the highest Al/Si ratios in snow PM observed in Shelekhov city (Table 3) were definitely due to enrichment of PM with Al-bearing particles originated from emission of aluminum smelter [62,63]. Al-bearing particulates could pass through the scrubbers of aluminum plant due to equipment ageing or malfunction.…”

Investigation of snow cover solid phase using total‐reflection x‐ray fluorescence method for an assessment of the environmental pollution

“…Snow samples were collected from Irkutsk region urbanized territories: Shelekhov city and its suburbs, where the main sources of air pollution are aluminum smelters, combined heat and power plants, as well as roads and railroad lines. [28][29][30][31][32] The sampling scheme is presented in Figure 1. It was drawn up taking into account the physical and geographical conditions, including the wind rose, the location of industrial enterprises, and the terrain.…”

“…15 XRF is increasingly used in various areas of environmental research, [16][17][18][19][20] in particular for the study of atmospheric aerosol particles collected on a filter [21][22][23][24][25][26][27] ; however, in these studies, sample leaching was usually applied. In this work, the TXRF method was developed to analyze snow cover solid phase samples collected from areas potentially contaminated by anthropogenic emissions [28][29][30] using suspension as a sample preparation technique. Since matrix-matched certified reference materials (CRMs) for the snow cover solid phase are not available, validation of the TXRF method was carried out by intercomparison study using AAS and WDXRF.…”

Investigation of Soils and Pine Needles Using WDXRF and TXRF Techniques for Assessment of the Environmental Pollution of Shelekhov District, Eastern Siberia, by the Aluminum Industry and Heat Power Engineering

“…This article discusses the development of the TXRF and WDXRF techniques for the complex study of compositions of pine needles and soils as indicators of industrial pollution. Environmental studies were already led on the investigated area [26,[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58] however, in this work a strategy based on X-ray methods has been developed.…”