Scholarly record

THE COMPOSITION OF COPPER COMPOUNDS IN SOILS SUBJECTED TO AEROSOL EMISSIONS OF THE FUEL AND ENERGY COMPLEX

Marina Burachevskaya

Abstract

The enterprises of the power industry worked by coal are one of the active sources of environmental pollution with heavy metals. The Novocherkassk State Power Station is the biggest power industry in the South of Russia. The atmospheric emissions contain heavy metals including Cu. Copper in soils exists in different chemical forms or types of binding. In environmental studies, the determination of these forms gives more information on trace metal mobility, as well as on their availability and toxicity, in comparison to the total element content. Monitoring plots are occupied by Haplic Chernozem at distances of 1.6 and 15 km along the main northwest direction wind from the Power Plant. Soil samples were taken from a depth of 0?20 cm. Analysis of Cu compounds in the soils was carried out by the Tessier's method (1979), which is one of the most common procedures used for sequential fractionation. It is found that the soil located at a distance of 1.6 km from the Power Station is exposed to active influence of aerosol emission. At a distance of 15 km from the Station, its impact on the soil is reduced significantly. The distribution of Cu factions in the unpolluted soil has the following sequence: residual (51% of the sum of fractions) > bound to organic matter (28%) > bound to Fe?Mn oxides (19%) > bound to carbonates (2%) > exchangeable (1%). In contaminated soil samples, the content of Cu in the first two fractions?exchangeable (from 1 to 2%) and carbonate fractions?increases (from 2 to 3%). This is related to the presence of dispersed carbonates with a high specific surface area in the upper layer of humus horizon of Haplic Chernozem. Organic matter is the main component that retains Cu coming into the soil from anthropogenic sources (up to 40%). The active interaction of Cu with organic matter leads to a sharp increase in the metal compounds formed with this component. With increasing pollution, Cu accumulates in the composition of components of soil origin. Therefore, the relative content of Cu in the primary minerals decreases (from 51% to 39%). It can serve as a diagnostic indicator in determining the level of anthropogenic load on the soil.

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