scholarly journals Assessment of the Soil Buffer Capacity in the Sea of Azov Basin Under Heavy Metal Pollution

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Minkina ◽  
Dina Nevidomskaya ◽  
Aleksey Sherbakov ◽  
Victor Chaplygin ◽  
Yurii Litvinov ◽  
...  

Heavy metals (HM) are among the most hazardous soil pollutants. The intensity of accumulation and distribution of HM in soils directly depends on the ecological conditions of pedogenesis and its buffering properties. At the same time, a significant accumulation of HM in the soil as a result of anthropogenic impacts reduces the buffering capacity of the soil and its resistance to pollution. The purpose of this work was to assess the buffering capacity of soils to HM pollution in the Don River delta and the coast of the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of Azov undergoing the great anthropogenic impact. The buffer capacity of experimental soils was carried out using the Il’in’s method (1995), based on the calculation of the inactivation ability of soils: organic matter, clay fraction (particle size < 0.01 mm), carbonates, sesquioxides, and pH. The content of HM was compared with soil Clarke and the maximum permissible concentration of HM in soils accepted in the Russian Federation. It was found that the experimental soils could be ordered by buffer capacity value as following (in decreasing order): haplic chernozem ≥ alluvial-meadow light loamy ≥ solonchak > alluvial-meadow sandy and sandy loamy > sandy primitive soil ≥ stratified alluvial soil. Keywords: trace elements, contamination, impact territories

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.V. Ponomarev ◽  
◽  
E.V. Prokopenko ◽  
P.P. Ivliev ◽  
V.Yu. Smatko ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Iryna Panchenko

The article gradually considers the negotiation process between Ukraine and the Russian Federation on the delimitation of theSea of Azov and the Kerch Strait from 1991 to the present. It was established that according to the map of the inter-republican borderbetween the Ukrainian SSR and the Russian SSR, and according to the division of maritime waters on the basis of international law,Russia should get a smaller part of the Sea of Azov. That is why Russia was not interested in the rapid establishment of a state borderon water. It was advantageous for Russia to delay the negotiation process on this issue and use the Sea of Azov on the same terms asbefore the collapse of the USSR.The article also focuses on numerous attempts of Ukrainian diplomats to achieve legal certainty in the delimitation of the Sea ofAzov and the Kerch Strait. A total of 36 rounds of border talks about the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, held from 1996 to 2012under the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, showed that Russia was ready to delimit the Sea of Azov only onits own terms but not on the basis of international maritime law.After the annexation of Crimea, a new round of relations begins regarding the division of the Black Sea. Russia acted quicklyand in March 2014 announced a tender for a construction project of a bridge that would connect mainland Russia and the CrimeanPeninsula, which at that time had already been illegally incorporated into the Russian Federation. Moscow has stated that the KerchStrait should be fully controlled by them, as both shores are Russian.In 2016, Ukraine filed a lawsuit against Russia in the Hague Arbitration Court for breaking the UN Convention on the Law ofthe Sea in the Black and Azov Seas and in the Kerch Strait. For today we don’t know what decision will be made by the Hague tribunal,but there is reason to believe that the chances for winning of Ukraine are high.The problem of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait has no simple solution. For today the only option is to wait for a decisionof the Arbitration Tribunal. Only on its basis Ukraine will be able to achieve the best strategy of the relations with Russia on the delimitationthe Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 70-76
Author(s):  
D. N. Kutsyn ◽  
A. V. Startsev

The aim of the work was to describe the first catch of Scophthalmus maeoticus (Pallas, 1814) in the Don River estuary (47°3′57′′N, 39°12′39′′E) and to analyze it in the context of salinity increasing in the Sea of Azov. The study was carried out using two turbot specimens caught on July 16, 2016, and on September 1, 2016, by a net with a mesh 55 mm. Assessment of the chalinic conditions of the Sea of Azov was carried out through annual monitoring at 3 hydrometeorological stations in Don River delta and in the eastern part of the Taganrog Bay. The article presents main meristic and plastic features of the turbots studied in comparison with published data. The dynamics of the salinity in the Sea of Azov and in the Taganrog Bay is analyzed. Find of the turbot in the estuary of the Don River is an evidence of ichthyocene transformation in response to salinity increasing (up to 12.5 ‰ in the Sea of Azov and up to 6 ‰ in the Taganrog Bay). The first catch of the turbot corresponds with trend of increasing of marine and brackish-water species share and with a decrease in the number of native semi-anadromous fish species.


Author(s):  
Andrey Kuznetsov ◽  
Andrey Kuznetsov ◽  
Yury Fedorov ◽  
Yury Fedorov ◽  
Paul Fattal ◽  
...  

Bottom sediments formed in the water bodies under the technogenic impact are important environmental factors affecting water quality and hydrobiota. Usually they consist of natural and technogenic material and differ from natural formations by their morphology, chemical and lithological composition, physicochemical and biochemical properties. In the present paper we use the term “sediment layer of anthropogenic impact” to define the sediment layer containing technogenic material and/or chemical pollutants. The determination of its location in the sediment cores, its thickness and accumulation chronology is an important scientific problem. In the paper the results of layer by layer study of Cs-137, Am-241, Pb-210 specific activities as well as concentrations of petroleum components, lead and mercury in 48 sediment cores of the Sea of Azov and the Don River are examined. The sediment core layers are dated by radiological methods. In all the sediment cores the peak of Cs-137 specific activity related to the Chernobyl accident was detected. In the Sea of Azov, this peak is located in the upper sediment layer up to 10 cm thick, however, in the delta and in the near-delta part of the Don River, where the sedimentation rates are more important, it is found at 20 to 40 cm depth. Also in certain sediment cores the second peak of Cs-137 related to the global nuclear fallout of the 1960s was found. The most of petroleum components, lead and mercury quantities are concentrated in the upper sediment layer formed in the last 50 to 70 years, i.e. in the period of the most important anthropogenic pressure. So, this complex approach based on the data on the vertical distribution of technogenic radionuclides and common pollutants in the sediment cores made it possible to identify and delineate the sediment layer of high anthropogenic impact as well as to assess the duration of this impact.


Purpose. The physico-chemical processes in river mouth area, which include the Don and Kuban rivers, limited the transport capacity of the main ports of the Sea of Azov as a result of the silting by suspended matter by the river runoff. The fall of the depths in the the ports and marine channels is one of the key problems of the functioning of the ports. Dredging works and dumping linked with shipping as well as shipping linked with the world economy. It is impossible to abandon shipping, as well it is impossible to abandon the dredging and damping. For this reason, the purpose of the work is to assess the optimal dredging works for the exploitation of the ports of Ukraine in the Sea of Azov. Methods. The comparative analysis of modern hydrometeorological conditions, including the dominant influence of wind activity, the velocity and the direction of currents according to actual data, the transparency of sea water, the runoff the river Kalmius had been done. The available images of DigitalGlobe’s remote sensing satellites and dredging results, which were periodically performed to support the depths on the sea marine channel to the port water area, were examined. Modern and retrospective data of bathymetric surveys using GIS processing technologies for comparing the results, as well as standard methods of statistical data processing were also used. Results. During the investigated period, the images of the Earth's remote sensing satellites from DigitalGlobe were studied. An anthropogenic impact to the silting in the study area was revealed (the turning point between 0 km of the marine channel of the port and the shallow water area of the port of Azovstal). For compare the depths in the investigated area which is under the the river Kalmius influence positions of the surveyed post had been established. As result of analysis of direct measurement data and graphic material the permanent silting of the marine channel was not established as well as the direct statistical relationship between the silting and the river run incoming with suspended matter with Kalmius river. The main process of sedimentation determines by the Don river. The upper limit of maximum sedimentation is 5–7 ‰, coincides with the investigated area, where theoretically one should expect the process of accumulation of bottom sediments. Conclusion. The result of comparing Kalmius river runoff with depths in the marine channel of the port of Azovstal, in the area of area of river mouth, revealed there is not representative statistical relationship. It is necessary monitoring data for a long period of data for representative comparing the runoff Kalmius river and siling processes. In modern period the runoff of the Don river is significantly deformed under the influence of anthropogenic factors and the representative statistical estimation have to be done using only the direct measurements, which are fairly limited. Nevertheless, the reduction of Don river runoff and, thus, the direct impact on the recording capacity of the studied water area determines the need for and technological accessibility of dredging at a significantly lower the cost of wokrs at the present stage.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 69-80
Author(s):  
L. I. Ryabushko ◽  
A. V. Bondarenko ◽  
S. S. Barinova

Data of the study of microphytobenthos of Crimean coastal waters of the Sea of Azov during 2005–2006, 2008–2011 and 2014 at 17 stations in the Sivash Gulf (East and West), Kamysh-Burunskaya Bay (Kerch) and bays of Kazantip Cape are given. Totally 200 taxa of microalgae belonging to 77 genera were found. Of these, 78 species – saprobity indicators, related to cyanobacteria (17 %) and diatoms (83 %), from 39 genera, for which bioindicative characteristics of organic water pollution are known, are used for the analysis of different ecotopes and regions. A leading place in microalgae flora belongs to a group of betamesosaprobionts (31 species) – indicators of moderate organic pollution, or of the III class of water quality with index of saprobity S = 2.0. The second place belongs to a group of oligosaprobionts (10 species), or of the II class of water quality, which is typical for natural clean waters with S = 1.0. According to the indicator of microalgae, there are no negative changes in the water quality in the regions. This indicates that anthropogenic impacts do not exceed the self-restoring potential of the marine ecosystems. However, the presence of the IV class of water quality indicators (17–21 %) in benthic communities indicates a constant flow of organic substances, which are gradually utilized by the living component of coastal ecosystems. The comparative data of the ratio of the Sea of Azov indicator microalgae species with those of other seas of moderate latitudes are discussed.


Author(s):  
Andrey Kuznetsov ◽  
Andrey Kuznetsov ◽  
Yury Fedorov ◽  
Yury Fedorov ◽  
Paul Fattal ◽  
...  

Bottom sediments formed in the water bodies under the technogenic impact are important environmental factors affecting water quality and hydrobiota. Usually they consist of natural and technogenic material and differ from natural formations by their morphology, chemical and lithological composition, physicochemical and biochemical properties. In the present paper we use the term “sediment layer of anthropogenic impact” to define the sediment layer containing technogenic material and/or chemical pollutants. The determination of its location in the sediment cores, its thickness and accumulation chronology is an important scientific problem. In the paper the results of layer by layer study of Cs-137, Am-241, Pb-210 specific activities as well as concentrations of petroleum components, lead and mercury in 48 sediment cores of the Sea of Azov and the Don River are examined. The sediment core layers are dated by radiological methods. In all the sediment cores the peak of Cs-137 specific activity related to the Chernobyl accident was detected. In the Sea of Azov, this peak is located in the upper sediment layer up to 10 cm thick, however, in the delta and in the near-delta part of the Don River, where the sedimentation rates are more important, it is found at 20 to 40 cm depth. Also in certain sediment cores the second peak of Cs-137 related to the global nuclear fallout of the 1960s was found. The most of petroleum components, lead and mercury quantities are concentrated in the upper sediment layer formed in the last 50 to 70 years, i.e. in the period of the most important anthropogenic pressure. So, this complex approach based on the data on the vertical distribution of technogenic radionuclides and common pollutants in the sediment cores made it possible to identify and delineate the sediment layer of high anthropogenic impact as well as to assess the duration of this impact.


Author(s):  
Vitaly Syomin ◽  
Andrey Sikorski ◽  
Ralf Bastrop ◽  
Nicole Köhler ◽  
Boris Stradomsky ◽  
...  

Alien polychaetes belonging to the genus Marenzelleria were recorded from the mouth of the Don River and Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov in February–March 2014. Morphological characteristics varied greatly and matched those of two species: M. neglecta and M. arctia. Some individuals did not match the descriptions of both species. A genetic study using different sequences (primarily COI, but also 16S, 28S, cytb and nuclear histone 3a) showed that only M. neglecta was present despite some morphological mismatches. A morphological description of the species according to the new data is presented, together with a revised table of variability of the key numeric characters. Since 2014, Marenzelleria has spread swiftly and become dominant in a considerable part of the Taganrog Bay, making up to 91% of the total abundance/biomass (6800 ind. m−2 and 31.2 g m−2, respectively). Monodominant sites were also present. Its occurrence is 100% in recent surveys. Such a sharp increase seems to be due to a lack of detritophages in the bay; this is supported by the fact that M. neglecta has not formed its specific assemblage. The community structure, if M. neglecta is excluded, is equal to that before the invasion. In the Sea of Azov itself, M. neglecta is not as abundant, but occurs up to the Strait of Kertch and at some sites in the Black Sea. Its spread further into the Black Sea seems possible, as well as into the Caspian Sea via the Volga-Don Canal.


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