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GEOGRAPHIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF HEPTYL POLLUTION IN KAZAKHSTAN STEPPE REGIONS

Bakhyt Mynbayeva

Abstract

The toxic heptyl gets into the desert and steppe soils of Kazakhstan when rockets flights from the Baikonur cosmodrome. The Baikonur cosmodrome is located in the desert to the east from the Aral Sea. It has been operating since June 1955, i.e. 62 years. The desert and steppe areas are generally considered as fragile unstable ecosystems. The launch vehicles leave behind damaged phytocenoces and landscapes, and impoverished soils after falling. We found out the landscape sites, where under the influence of long-term contamination the topsoil has turned into a mechanical and chemical mixture of fine soil with toxic wastes and rocket fuel emissions. Soil sampling on the heptyl content was made on the overlapping of rockets falling areas No. 15 and 25 in the Karaganda region. In the results of the field researches we discovered geochemical anomalies of heptyl: accumulation level in steppe soils was about 250-400 maximum permissible concentrations. The soil samples were tested on changes in the composition of the steppe microbial communities. We found that heptyl led to microscopic fungi dominance. Bacterial community was suppressed, demonstrating sensitivity to the toxic heptyl. This fact gave evidence of the high toxicity of the soil, which is contaminated by heptyl.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2017/52/s20.054

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