Contents of Rare-Earth Elements and Heavy Metals in Soils and Snow Samples

The problem related to urban districts’ ecological and geochemical assessment due to the growth of environment’s technogenic pollution is becoming more and more important. The urban population is practically not protected from the constantly increasing exposure to toxic elements coming from solid, liquid and gaseous wastes of the city transport and manufactures located both in Moscow and in Moscow Region. Soils and snow samples on the territory of natural reserve «The Setun River’s Valley» have been analyzed with the aim of determining the contents of rare-earth elements and heavy metals by the method of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Variations in concentrations of rare-earth elements, heavy metals and indicator relationships of elements in soil samples and in snow’s solid fractions have been revealed. Has been established a chaotic distribution of rare-earth elements and heavy metals in soils, as well as a decrease of some elements’ content in snow’s solid fractions at the northeastern direction. The level of seasonal atmospheric pollution for the investigated territory has been estimated, and its possible source has been identified.