Evaluation of aerial technogenic pollution near industrial enterprises in the tundra zone (by the example of Vorkuta city)

Abstract

The quantitative chemical analysis of snow cover has been carried out for the Vorkuta agglomeration territory. The on-site ingress of pollutants in close proximity to industrial enterprises in Vorkuta is calculated. The schematic maps of substance distribution in snow in the studied area are built using space images. The control levels of aerotechnogenic pollution are established for the city, industrial zones and adjacent territories for the purpose of subsequent ecological monitoring. The pH value of snowmelt water reaches 6.5-7.2 due to a high content of alkaline components (calcium and magnesium carbonates) in snow. The snow cover of the Vorkuta agglomeration is highly enriched with heavy metals. The maximum permissible concentrations are exceeded for manganese, nickel, aluminum, vanadium, molybdenum and mercury. High concentrations of mercury in snow are supposedly related to coal combustion at the thermal power plant. After that mercury may be occluded on a surface of coal particles and ashes. It is shown that it is possible to establish the zones of the greatest aerogenic impact according to the content of mercury and vanadium in the snow. Factor analysis was used to identify the mechanisms of pollutants and factors forming the chemical composition of the snow cover. The share of elements in the suspended solids is more than 60% of their total content in snowmelt water. High concentrations of suspended particles (up to 720 mg/dm3) were observed in the snow of Vorkuta. The most severe pollution of the snow cover is registered in close proximity to thermal power plant №2. According to the calculations of the total pollution index, the highest excess of substance increment over the background level was noted in the sanitary protection zone around the thermal power plant №2.

Assessment of Mercury Concentrations and Fluxes Deposited from the Atmosphere on the Territory of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area

“…Amderma is the only continuous monitoring station in the Russian Arctic where GEM was measured [25]. Hg studies focused mostly on the European part of the Russian Arctic, where the largest non-ferrous metallurgy complexes, iron ore smelting, and mining enterprises are located [26][27][28][29]. For the Siberian part, a mercury problem is observed as well, but studies are limited and are mostly related to the Russian Arctic Seas [30][31][32].…”

Polish Polar Research

“…These soils have previously been reported as being polluted due to decades of coal fly ash deposition (Walker et al 2003(Walker et al , 2009Vasilevich et al 2019a). Six coal mines, two coal-fired thermal power plants (TPP) and a cement plant are concentrated near Vorkuta, which results in adverse impact on soil and vegetation cover (Yakovleva et al 2016(Yakovleva et al , 2018Vasilevich et al, 2018aVasilevich et al, , 2019a T a b l e 2 . Integrated parameters of the molecular composition of the humic substances.…”

“…Yakovleva and Gabov 2019). The major pollutants resulting from coal extraction and combustion are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (Yakovleva and Gabov 2020), macro elements and heavy metals (Vasilevich et al, 2018a(Vasilevich et al, , 2019a. Plots of two Gleyic Stagnosols are located at the distances 4.5 km from the "Vorkutinskaya" mine, at 6 km from the TPP-1, at 9 km from the TPP-2 and at 11.5 km from the Cement plant; plots of Histic Cryosol and Histic Gleysol are located at the distances 5 km from the TPP-2, at 6.5 km from the Cement plant, at 10 km from the "Vorkutinskaya" mine and at 12 km from the TPP-1 (Fig.…”

Snow contamination by heavy metals and metalloids in a polar town (a case study of Nadym, Russia)

“…In the Arctic, snow accumulates for 7-8 months of the year, which allows us to study the composition and quantity of pollutants releasing from the near-surface atmospheric boundary layer over a long period of the year (Galitskaya and Rumyantseva 2012). Numerous studies have shown the role of snow cover as a natural archive that accumulates pollutants and provides objective information on the state of ecosystems (Walker 2010;Ermolov et al 2014;Talovskaya et al 2014;Ariya et al 2018;Vasilevich et al 2018).…”