Environmental Conditions Of Zakamensk Town (Dzhida River Basin Hotspot)

Abstract

Ecological problems of zakamensk town are associated with sand deposits that were formed as a result of mining activities of former Dzhidinsky tungstenmolybdenum plant. Sands are accumulated in large quantities and they contain dangerous concentrations of heavy metals. Desertification in an urbanized area is manifested locally, but it differs from agricultural desertification by a profound and comprehensive destructive change in the components of the environment. Maps of soils, vegetation, types of lands, as well as ecological zoning maps of zakamensk were created. The basis for the creation of electronic maps using GIS were stock, archive and own materials, topographic maps and remote sensing data. Urbanized desertification in zakamensk is caused by chemical contamination of sandy eluvium, the spreading of pollutants by water flows and wind currents. Erosion occurs both in the form of flat flushing and linear erosion. The most intensive is gully erosion. Quantitative parameters of temporal variability of the erosive rainfall potential for the zakamensk town are received. The quantitative characteristics of loads of pollutants on the territory of the town are determined on the basis of the erosion-deflation models. The calculations showed that 204 tons/ha of contaminated sand annually falls into the settlement area with water-erosion flows (Pb -3.7 tons, W -4.3 tons). Moreover, active wind activity led to the deposition of more metals (Pb -5.6 tons, W -6.5 tons) in the town.

Drivers and extent of surface water occurrence in the Selenga River Delta, Russia

“…The Selenga River faces several socioeconomic and environmental impacts, influencing Lake Baikal ( Borisova, 2019 ). The anthropogenic impact on ecosystems in the Selenga River basin has increased in the recent decades, e.g., by the extraction of minerals, primarily gold, urbanization, and agricultural development, especially in the upper Mongolian part of the basin ( Jarsjö et al, 2017 ; Garmaev et al, 2019 ). The long-term low water period observed in the region ( Gelfan and Millionshchikova, 2018 ) has a significant impact on delta processes and wetland-dominated areas of the SRD, also posing drastic changes in sediment transport and water quality ( Chalov et al, 2017b ; Shinkareva et al, 2019 ).…”

Hydrodynamic Controls of Particulate Metals Partitioning Along the Lower Selenga River—Main Tributary of The Lake Baikal

“…Due to the lithochemical features of the lower Selenga basin, its waters are enriched with chemical elements (Fe, Zn, Mo, Cu), with concentrations corresponding to world-average values [10]. The main sources of river pollution are associated with the poorly treated industrial and municipal wastewaters from Ulan-Ude, Selenginsk, and Kabansk cities [11], as well as from cities of Mongolia [12]. The large inland delta (over 500 km 2 ) is considered as an important geochemical buffer to protect Lake Baikal [13,14].…”

Overview: Recent advances in the understanding of the northern Eurasian environments and of the urban air quality in China – a Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) programme perspective

“…Multi-scale modelling ranged from the basin-wide (Malsy et al, 2017;Frolova et al, 2017) to specific sub-regions, such as particular segments of the river system (Kaus et al, 2017;Thorslund et al, 2017;Garmaev et al, 2019) or its delta (S. R. Shinkareva et al, 2019), and identified reactions of hydrogeochemical pathways to climate change. The mean flow reduction in the Selenga River was 3 %-5 % during the 2020s to 2030s and 4 %-25 % during the 2080s to 2090s, being a crucial driver of ongoing and future hydrogeochemical changes.…”