Concentrations of chemical elements in the leaves of Populus suaveolens Fischer and Betula pendula Roth at the facilities of the gold deposit of Eastern Transbaikalia

Abstract

The concentration of 50 chemical elements in the leaves of Populus suaveolens Fischer and Betula pendula Roth growing in tailings dumps and dumps of gold deposits in Eastern Transbaikalia (Baley) was studied. It was found that the highest concentration of most elements was in the leaves of plants growing at the ZIF-2 tailings dump, and the lowest was on the sands of the thorium tailings dump and sand–pebble soil at the dredge gold mining site. Populus suaveolens differed from Betula pendula by a higher concentration of most chemical elements. A feature of the elemental composition of birch was a significant concentration of Mn and Ba in relation to poplar. The concentration of a number of chemical elements significantly exceeded the clark of terrestrial plants, as well as the maximum permissible levels of concentration of elements established for feed and medicinal plant raw materials.