Technogenic wastes and ecological problems

The northeastern part of the Lesser Caucasus encompasses the western part of the Republic of Azerbaijan and is characterized with a prevalence of unique flora and fauna and the availability of rich natural resources, particularly metals. It is known that the long-term exploitation of these resources by surface mining has led to technogenic contamination in the area. Exploitation of ore deposits is associated with the origination of huge hills of waste which cause heavy degradation of pastures, forests, and croplands. A significant part of widely degraded areas in the northeastern Lesser Caucasus is found in the territory of the Gedabek administrative district. This paper deals with the problem of restoration for contaminated lands formed due to raw material extraction on territory of valuable mountain forests and meadows over a long historical period as well as the use of collected technogenic wastes for different purposes (e.g. in land reclamation, construction of motorways etc.).

Management of solid municipal waste as the federal ecological project

The dynamics of solid municipal waste accumulation in Russia is considered taking into account the low rate of their reprocessing and utilization, which worsens the living conditions and aggravates the social tension in the country. The necessity to create an almost new industry is noted based on the collection, sorting, temporal storage, reprocessing and disposal of the non-utilizable part of waste. The tasks arising may be divided in two groups, i.e., technological and engineering geological groups. The most important tasks of the former group include sorting waste, separation of waste portion suitable for re-use as secondary raw material and recycling of the bulk of waste with the subsequent disposal of non-utilizable part. Among engineering geological tasks, the focus is concentrated on zoning territories for the optimal allocation of sites for temporary storage, reprocessing and disposal of solid municipal waste so that the newly formed bodies not to become a new source of technogenic contamination of the environment.

Methodology for assessment of technogenic contamination in water bodies at urban areas

The paper considers the problem of the influence of man-made load on the quality of water and bottom sediments of water bodies. The relationship of the state of the water body, the quality of the water in it and the level of contamination of bottom sediments is established. It has been shown that the rates and volumes of formation of bottom sediments and the level of contamination of their layers are different throughout the existence of a water body, which allows the use of bottom sediments as the main indicator of the ecological state of a water body, reflecting the level of anthropogenic impact on water ecosystems over time.

Mercury in Poplar Leaves in the Urbanized Areas of Southern Siberia and the Far East

The problem of technogenic contamination by mercury of urbanized territories of the southern part of Siberia and the Far East in the regional and sectoral aspects according to sampling of poplar leaves is considered. The study was conducted according to a single methodology in 35 localities. Quantitative estimates of the distribution of mercury in the leaves of poplar in individual cities and the region as a whole were obtained. The dependence of the growth of the average mercury content in the cities on their population has been established. Revealed are significant in terms of area and length, technogenic biogeochemical aureoles, and mercury dispersion streams that are stable in time in the city of Novosibirsk, in the villages of Aktash and Shelekhov, as well as sources of mercury emissions into the environment located on their territory. Recommendations are made for further research.