Assessment of soil pollution level using environmental indices in the Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal, Russia: primary data

Abstract

ABSTRACT This work is dedicated to the study of ecological and geochemical state of mountain-stepper landscapes of the OlkhonIsland, LakeBaikal, which are influenced by modern human-caused impact. The main goal of our research is the assessment of the soil pollution level caused by entry of heavy metals into soil cover. We studied the distribution of toxic elements such as Hg, As, Cd, Pb, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, which is based on atomic absorption and X-ray fluorescence methodology. To evaluate the contamination of the soils examined, we appliedgeoecological indices used in ecological-geochemical assessment such as enrichment factor, contamination factor, degree of the contamination and pollution load index were applied. During the research, we made the following conclusions. The tests revealed the elevated contents of Cd, Co, Pb, Ni, Zn in the soils examined. Namely, the degree of the contamination for the mean metal contents in all five profiles (A, B, C, D, E) indicated moderate pollution level of the environment. The pollution load index for all profiles denoted that C profile was heavily polluted; A, B, D and E profiles were moderately polluted. Thus, the obtained primary results indicated the moderate soil pollution level at all profiles in the island. Finally, we emphasise that the increase of the contribution of metals from the anthropogenic sources in soils plays an important role in the environment of the island.