Assessment of the content of pollutants in accumulating natural environments under conditions of anthropogenic load

Abstract

Introduction. For a comprehensive study of the urban environment, various natural objects, there were used - snow and soil cover, accumulating atmospheric precipitation, which allows assessing the spread of pollutants in the environment. The purpose of the study is to assess the quantitative content of priority pollutants in the snow/soil system as a result of dispersion from man-made sources. Material and methods. Studies of the content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), petroleum products (PP), and fluorides in snow and soils under man-made loads were carried out. Snow sampling was performed at sites with undisturbed snow cover during the beginning of snowmelt. Soil samples were taken at the same points where snow samples were previously taken. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, fluorimetric and potentiometric methods were used. Results. The detected PP content in samples of snow/soil samples was in the range of 0.04-0.98 mg/l/2.8-71.2 mg/kg; Σ PAH -2.13-134.76 mg/l/0.13-38.987 mg/kg; fluoride- in the range of 0.68-13.48 mg/l/1.5-61.0 mg/kg. High concentrations of pollutants were registered at points closest to man-made sources, as well as near highways and railway tracks. The composition of PAHs is relatively uniform at all sampling sites. snow samples were mainly dominated by low-molecular polyarenes - from 52.8 to 68.5% of ΣPAH, and soil samples - 5 -, 6-nuclear PAHs, the proportion of which varied from 63.7 to 85.3% of ΣPAH. Conclusion. Analysis of the obtained material shows the maximum concentrations of pollutants (PAH, PP, Fluorides) to be observed for snow and soil samples near the industrial zone: 0.35 km South of the aluminum plant, as well as in a soil sample taken from the village of Olkha, at a distance of 2.5 km from the source.