Assessment of the Ecological State of the Arctic Freshwater System Based on Concentrations of Heavy Metals in the Bottom Sediments

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (8) ◽  
pp. 842-856 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. A. Dauvalter ◽  
N. A. Kashulin
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yury Tatsiy

<p>Studies of dated cores of bottom sediments from Arctic lakes to determine flows and the history of sedimentation of heavy metals have been carried out since the beginning of the 90s. This is largely due to the need to understand the spatial and temporal trends of pollution in the Arctic and the ways of influencing wildlife and people, especially in a changing climate. Arctic lakes are sensitive indicators of global changes in the environment and climate, as well as the effects of regional and transboundary transport of pollutants. Bottom sediments of Arctic lakes that are not subject to direct anthropogenic influences are a kind of paleoclimatic and paleogeochemical archives that contain information about biogeochemical processes on the catchment and in the reservoir itself, informatively reflect environmental changes.</p><p>Arctic mercury is of particular interest. Besides the fact that this metal is an element of the first hazard class, it is a global pollutant. Unfortunately, the published data on mercury in the bottom sediments of Arctic lakes are much less than for other heavy metals. To some extent, this is due to analytical problems in determining low mercury levels.</p><p>The aim of the research is to assess the dynamics of sedimentation of mercury and identify a possible anthropogenic contribution to the period of industrial activity.</p><p>The results of research of mercury distribution in sediments are presented for cores from five Arctic lakes – NARY_1-2 (Malozemelskaya tundra), NARY_2-4 and 9-1 (Lovetsky Island, the mouth of the Pechora River), Langtibejto (Yamal Peninsula) and Gol’tsovoe (Gydan Peninsula). Sedimentation rates were estimated using 210Pb and 137Cs geochronology. Chemical composition, granulometry and loss on ignition were determined layer by layer for all sediment cores.</p><p>The layer-by-layer analysis of all cores of bottom sediments showed that the distribution of mercury differs significantly from the distribution of other elements by a significantly stronger enrichment of the surface layers. The nature of this distribution in column NARY1_2 coincides with both the beginning of the industrial period (end of the 19th century) and the beginning of the work of the Norilsk industrial complex.</p><p>Enrichment of the surface layer of sediments can be caused not only by transboundary transport of mercury, but also by an increased content of organic matter in the upper horizons of sediments.</p><p>The nature of the distribution of mercury along the length of the columns and the distribution over fractions with different particle sizes showed that the finest fraction does not always determine the total concentration in the slice. At the same time, large particles (> 0.2 mm) with a high mercury concentration are present in the columns.</p><p>The data obtained show that, unlike other elements, the studied lakes are conditionally background for mercury.</p><p>This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project 18-17-00184)</p>


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.B. Kalmanova

В статье представлены результаты исследования экологогеохимического состояния снежного покрова как индикатора качества атмосферного воздуха г. Биробиджана. Выявлены основные природные и антропогенные факторы, предопределяющие экологическое состояние городской территории в зимний период (климатические, планировочная структура, стационарные и мобильные источники загрязнения). Определено, что выбросы основных загрязнителей во время отопительного сезона превышает летний в 6,5 раз. Проведены геохимические исследования снежного покрова на 60 экспериментальных площадках, заложенных в различных функциональных зонах города. Выявлено значительное превышение тяжелых металлов над фоновым уровнем: железа до 60, марганца до 50, меди до 40, цинка до 20, никеля до 12, свинца до 10, кобальта до 6 раз. С 2003 по 2018 годы содержание химических элементов в снеге увеличилось в 2 раза за счет мобильных источников загрязнения, ТЭЦ, котельных. Проведена сравнительная характеристика накопления тяжелых металлов в снеге за 2003 и 2018 годы и установлен ранжированный ряд загрязняющих токсичных веществ. Разработана шкала оценки загрязнения депонирующих сред по суммарному показателю концентрации тяжелых металлов, согласно которой в Биробиджане выявлено 5 уровней загрязнения снежного покрова. В целом экологическое состояние урбанизированной территории признано неудовлетворительным (8 площади территории относится к очень высокому, 14 к высокому, 21 к выше среднему, 27 к среднему уровням загрязнения, 30 к относительно чистым районам города). По полученным результатам разработана карта в программе ArcView GIS Экологогеохимическое районирование территории г. Биробиджана по уровню загрязнения снежного покрова с выделением наиболее загрязненных участков (70 от общей площади города является загрязненной). По результатам проведенных исследований предложены конструктивные методы планирования урбанизированной территории с целью улучшения ее экологического состояния: проведение геомониторинга (контроль загрязнения снежного покрова и своевременный его вывоз на специально оборудованные полигоны). Snow cover is taken as an indicator of air quality using Birobidzhan, a middlesize city in the Russian Far East, as a case study. The main natural and manmade determinants influencing the ecological state of the urban area in winter are identified: climate, a planning structure, and the stationary and mobile sources of pollution. During the heating season the emission of major pollutants exceeds the summer level by 6.5 times. The geochemical study of snow cover was performed at 60 experimental sites in different functional urban areas. A significant excess of heavy metals over the regional background level was revealed: iron up to 60 times, manganese up to 50, copper up to 40, zinc up to 20 , nickel up to 12, lead up to 10, cobalt up to 6 times. From 2003 to 2018 the content of chemical elements in snow increased in 2 times due to the mobile sources of pollution, thermal power plants, and boilers. The comparative characteristic of accumulation of heavy metals in snow for 2003 and 2018 is carried out, and the ranked number of polluting toxic substances is established. The scale of pollution assessment in depositing environments was developed using the cumulative indicator of heavy metal concentration. Five levels of snow cover pollution are found in Birobidzhan: low, moderate, above moderate, high and very high. As a whole, the ecological state of the urban area is considered as unsatisfactory (8 of the area with a very high level of pollution, 14 with high, 21 above moderate, 27 a moderate level of pollution, 30 a relatively clean area). According to the results, a map was developed in the ArcView GIS program Ecological and geochemical zoning of Birobidzhan, using the level of the snow cover pollution with the allocation of the most polluted areas (70 of the total area of the city is polluted). According to the results, a constructive method of planning in an urban area is proposed in order to improve its environmental condition: geomonitoring as a control of pollution in snow cover and its prompt removal to specially equipped landfills.


2008 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 105-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. M. Malakhov ◽  
A. O. Bobko ◽  
T. M. Aliokhina

Author(s):  
Ngo The Cuong ◽  
Tran Hoan Quoc ◽  
Svetlana Vasilievna Zolotokopova

The article focuses on the study of change of containing heavy metals (zinc, copper, iron, cadmium, lead, arsenic) in the abiotic and biotic components of the Serepok river (Vietman) influenced by wastewater discharge from industrial areas. Heavy metal content was determined in the river water and bottom sediments in the four zones: above and within the boundaries of industrial regions Xoa Phu and Tam Thang and in two water reservoirs situated below the boundaries of those industrial areas. Tilapia Galilean ( Sarotherodon galilaeus ), Hemibagrus ( Hemibagrus ), and sazan ( Cyprinus carpio ) caught in these areas were the hydrobionts under study in which liver, gills, skeleton and muscles accumulation of heavy metals was detected. In the organs of fish caught in the river within industrial region, heavy metals concentration was 3-7 times higher. The greatest concentration of heavy metals was found in the liver and gills of fish caught in the boundaries of industrial regions, the least concentration was in the muscles. In most cases, significant correlation between heavy metal concentration in organs of fishes and in river water, bottom sediments has been revealed.


Author(s):  
N Derugina ◽  
N Derugina ◽  
А Grigoriev ◽  
A Grigoriev ◽  
Дарья Рябчук ◽  
...  

This project defines the pre-industrial quantities of heavy metals in sediment sequences of the Late Holocene from the Eastern Gulf of Finland. A comparative analysis reveals differences and similarities in the current concentrations of heavy metals in bottom sediments and pre-industrial levels. It is found that the maximum concentrations of heavy metals in the bottom sediments of the Gulf of Finland and Neva Bay occurred in the period of 1950-1990. Since the 1990s, the trend has been a slow decline in the contamination levels; however, the concentrations of some heavy metals in bottom sediments remain high.


Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 327
Author(s):  
Joanna Jaskuła ◽  
Mariusz Sojka ◽  
Michał Fiedler ◽  
Rafał Wróżyński

Pollution of river bottom sediments with heavy metals (HMs) has emerged as a main environmental issue related to intensive anthropopressure on the water environment. In this context, the risk of harmful effects of the HMs presence in the bottom sediments of the Warta River, the third longest river in Poland, has been assessed. The concentrations of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb in the river bottom sediments collected at 24 sample collection stations along the whole river length have been measured and analyzed. Moreover, in the GIS environment, a method predicting variation of HMs concentrations along the whole river length, not at particular sites, has been proposed. Analysis of the Warta River bottom sediment pollution with heavy metals in terms of the indices: the Geoaccumulation Index (Igeo), Enrichment Factor (EF), Pollution Load Index (PLI), and Metal Pollution Index (MPI), has proved that, in 2016, the pollution was heavier than in 2017. Assessment of the potential toxic effects of HMs accumulated in bottom sediments, made on the basis of Threshold Effect Concentration (TEC), Midpoint Effect Concentration (MEC), and Probable Effect Concentration (PEC) values, and the Toxic Risk Index (TRI), has shown that the ecological hazard in 2017 was much lower. Cluster analysis revealed two main groups of sample collection stations at which bottom sediments showed similar chemical properties. Changes in classification of particular sample collection stations into the two groups analyzed over a period of two subsequent years indicated that the main impact on the concentrations of HMs could have their point sources in urbanized areas and river fluvial process.


2008 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirosław Skorbiłowicz ◽  
Elżbieta Skorbiłowicz

The distribution of lead, zinc, and chromium in fractions of bottom sediments in the Narew River and its tributariesThe purpose of the paper was to evaluate the distribution of lead, zinc and chromium contents in different grain fractions of bottom sediments in the Narew River and some of its tributaries. This study also aimed to determine which fractions are mostly responsible for bottom sediment pollution. The studies of the Narew and its tributaries (the Supraśl, Narewka, and Orlanka) were conducted in September 2005 in the upper Narew catchment area. The analyzed bottom sediments differed regarding grain size distribution. The studies revealed the influence of the percentage of particular grain fractions present on the accumulation of heavy metals in all bottom sediments.


Author(s):  
Andrey N. Sharov

Based on the study of the spatio-temporal aspects of the development of phytoplankton in the lakes of the North and North-West of the European territory of Russia (large lakes – Imandra, Onega and Chudsko-Pskovskoye and small lakes of the Arctic and Subarctic), the features of its structure and dynamics under the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors (eutrophication, heavy metal pollution, acidification, thermification). The species composition and quantitative characteristics of phytoplankton of large lakes of the North of Russia, small arctic lakes and lakes of subarctic regions are studied. It has been shown that diatoms predominate in arctic water bodies according to species diversity, and green and diatoms predominate in boreal ones. By biomass, diatoms dominate mainly in all cold-water lakes, with the exception of small arctic lakes, where golden algae lead. The features of the reorganization of phytoplankton in response to the action of anthropogenic factors are revealed. It is proved that in the northern water bodies the complex action of heavy metals and nutrients does not lead to inhibition of phytoplankton, and the effect of acidification in combination with heavy metals enhances the toxic effect of the latter. A feature of the response to acidification is an increase in the variability of the dynamics of the biomass of phytoplankton. It has been shown that in different types of lakes of East Antarctica under severe climate conditions under light and biogenic limitation, redistribution of autotrophic components in the formation of the biota of water bodies occurs: against the background of a decrease in the abundance and diversity of phytoplankton, the role of microphytobenthos and periphyton increases.


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