Home – Home – Jornals – Chemistry for Sustainable Development 2004 number 4

This paper presents the experimental results of an onsite snow survey of 2003 carried out on reference areas of an industrial center and its domain of influence. A comparative analysis has been carried out to study the chemical composition of the solid and liquid snow flows. The object of investigation was the snow cover (38 core samples) and the underlying surface (22 soil samples) on an area of about 1200 km². Under laboratory conditions, melted snow was filtered through membrane filters in an argon atmosphere. The solid particles of the snow cover collected on a filter were treated with a mixture of mineral acids and analyzed for Fe, Mg, Cu, Cd, Pb, and Zn using atomic absorption spectroscopy after atomization in acetylene air flame. Inversion voltammetry measurements using a mercury film electrode were carried out to determine pH, Eh, c, and the contents of Cu, Cd, Pb, and Zn. The bulk concentrations of Fe and Mn in the filtrate were found by flame atomic absorption spectroscopy after tenfold overall concentration. Additionally, the total content of heavy metals in the aqueous and acid extracts from soil was determined by the same method. Previously, it was found that inorganic lead dominated on the surface of the solid particles of the snow mass (80-90 %), while 3-9 % was organic lead, including 2-5 % lead of anthropogenic origin. The analytical data obtained for metals were used to evaluate the volumes of the snow metal flow to the channel net of the Ob River within the storage-washout model for urbanized drainage basins.