HEAVY METAL POLLUTION FROM TOURISM IN THE ALTAI MOUNTAINS

Abstract

The paper presents information about soil pollution with heavy metals from tourism in the Altai Mountains of Kazakhstan and the Altai Mountains of Mongolia. During the pandemic, traveling to the Altai Mountains became a trend became trend for domestic tourism in both countries. Bad infrastructure is here. Therefore, tourist vehicles have damaged the surface of the soil by driving on dirt roads, building new branch roads, approaching snow-capped peaks, and driving through swampy areas. The authors hypothesized that the soil is likely to be contaminated with heavy metals, mostly due to heavy vehicles with large motors. As a result, compared to clean soil, the lead levels increased by 12.5–15.8 mg/kg, nickel for 16.1–33.7 mg/kg, zinc for 15.6–17.1 mg/kg and the amount of heavy metals increased by 2–4 times. The results of the experiment confirmed the presence of heavy metal contamination in disturbed soil. But this pollution has not exceeded the standard level. Because contaminated soils are washed away by snow and rain.