GEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SOILS: A CASE STUDY OF TERRITORY WITH A HIGH AEROTECHNOGENIC LOAD

Abstract

The relevance of the research is caused by the fact that soil, being a connecting link between the Earth geospheres, plays an important role, both in the economic and social development of territories. Soils are of great ecological importance, going far beyond the agricultural framework, and at the same time are often influenced by technogenic factors that can lead to a change in the course of geochemical processes (as, for example, on the Kola Peninsula, where mining and metallurgical enterprises are concentrated). Therefore, the question arises about the difference in the geochemical characteristics of soils, including the fractional composition of chemical elements compounds, of technogenically transformed and background territories. The main aim of the research is assessment of the soils geochemical specificity, including the fractional composition of chemical elements compounds, of territory with a high aerotechnogenic load. Objects: soils of the territory with a high aerotechnogenic load (the catchment area of Lake Imandra, Kola Peninsula, Russia). Methods. The fractional composition of chemical elements compounds in soils was determined by successive selective extracts method. Chemical analysis of the extracts was determined by an inductively coupled plasma mass-spectrometric method. The mineralogical composition of the soils was studied by X-ray phase analysis and electron microscopy. Results. Studies show that most of the chemical elements remain bound in the residual fraction. But on the territory under consideration, the main share of rare earth elements, Na, Rb, Sb, Zr, Pb, and U, is associated with organic matter. The effect of emissions from the copper-nickel plant is reflected in increase in copper and nickel concentration in the illuvial horizon of soils, the presence of micromineral phases of nickel and copper oxides and rare-earth compounds, as well as in increase in the proportion of mobile forms of Ni and Cu, Cr, Co, Cd, As, Sb.

Keywords

• fractionation
• sequential extraction
• soil
• aerotechnogenic load
• kola peninsula