Comparison of anthropogenic metal deposition rates with excess soil loading from coal, oil and gas

• Main Author: Tony R. Walker
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Key words; Russian Arctic; Usa River Basin; soil and snow chemistry; soil loading; coal; Arctic; Usinsk; Vorkuta
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.606.7541; http://www.polar.pan.pl/ppr26/ppr26-299.pdf

Abstract: Trace metal composition of snowpack, snow−melt filter residues and top−soils were determined along transects through industrial towns in the Usa River Basin: Inta, Usinsk and Vorkuta. Elevated concentrations of deposition elements and pH in snow and soils associated with alkaline coal ash within 25–40 km of Vorkuta and Inta were found. At− mospheric deposition in the vicinity of Vorkuta and Inta, added significantly to the soil con− taminant loading as a result of ash fallout. The element concentrations in soils within 20–30 km of Vorkuta do not reflect current deposition rates, but instead, reflect an historical pollu− tion legacy, when coal mining activity peaked in the 1960s. There is little evidence of anthropogenic metal deposition around the gas and oil town of Usinsk.