Heavy metals content in soils of residential territories of Crimea Republic

Abstract

The relevance of the research is caused by the need to monitor heavy metal content in ecosystems and human bio-substrates as the initial stage in assessing their impact on ecosystems and human body for determination the regional ecological standards taking into account natural and technogenic specificity of the region. The aim of this study was to evaluate soil content of Pb, Zn, Sr, Cu, Ni, Co, Cr, As, V at 30 monitoring sites of residential areas in the central, southern, eastern, northwestern, western and northern regions of the Crimean peninsula. Methods. The total content of Pb, Zn, Sr, Cu, Ni, Co, Cr, As, V in samples of soil was determined using x-ray spectrometer "Spektroskan Max-GV" in the laboratory of Soil Science Department in Academy of biology and biotechnology in Southern Federal University. Results. Exceedances of the maximum permissible concentrations were determined for Cr, Co, Pb, while As and Zn showed excess rarely. The maximum values of exceedances were as follows: 6,6 for As; 2,1 for Pb; 1,1 for V; 1,7 for Zn; 1,1 for Ni of maximum permissible concentration, 2,8 for Co; 2,6 for Cu; 1,7 for Cr and Sr of clarkes for settlements. The comparative analysis of heavy metals distribution in soil of the regions with different natural and anthropogenic conditions allows assuming that the revealed heavy metals exceedances are mostly of an anthropogenic origin. Further studies including the reserved territories of the Crimea are needed to identify the geochemical soil characteristics and their origin at different regions.

Keywords

• soil
• heavy metals
• ecological monitoring
• residential territories
• Crimean peninsula