GEOECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE STATUS OF GROUNDWATER USING THE BASIN APPROACH (A CASE STUDY OF THE AREA OF THE KHOVU-AKSYNSKII DEPOSIT, TYVA REPUBLIC)
S.G. Platonova1, O.I. Kal'naya2, V.V. Skripko1,3, Yu.G. Kopylova4, A.A. Hvashchevskaya4
1Institute for Water and Environmental Problems, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 656038, Barnaul, ul. Molodezhnaya, 1, Russia
2Tuvinian Institute for Exploration of Natural Resources, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 667007, Kyzyl, ul. Internatsional’naya, 117a, Russia
3Altai State University, 656038, Barnaul, pr. Lenina, 61, Russia
4National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, 634050, Tomsk, pr. Lenina, 30, Russia
Keywords: basin analysis, structural indices, geomorphological work, tailing dump, aquifer, hydrogeochemical composition
Abstract
The basin analysis for assessing the status of groundwater on the Khovu-Aksynskii arsenide-cobalt-sulfide deposit (Tyva Republic) located on the left bank of the Elegest river was carried out together with field morphometric studies and hydrogeochemical sampling. It was determined that the chemical composition of groundwater is largely dependent on the basin organization of the territory. The structural indices of areas, lengths, slopes and bifurcation calculated for the Khovu-Aksynskii gully basin, and also the geomorphological work indicate that within its limits the functional type of the 3rd order basin components on removal and accumulation of water and lithodynamic flows changes from the denudation (in the upper component) to the accumulation (in the middle) and transition - in the integral lower component. In accordance with the type of basins, it has been established that the groundwater chemistry is formed mainly in the middle and lower components of the basin under natural and anthropogenic impact. With distance from the pollution sources, the halos are formed in the groundwater of deluvial-proluvial horizon, reflecting a decrease in the total mineralization (from 0.68 to 0.3 g/L), hardness (from 7.1 to 3.2 mg-eqv/L) and arsenic (from 0.013 to less than 0.005 mg/L). The absence of water pollution by ore-forming heavy metals (nickel, cobalt and copper) typical for the deposit and tailing dumps is also explained by the transitional type of integral component of the catchment basin. The results obtained show the possibility of using it in modeling the conditions for denudation and accumulation of natural and anthropogenic pollutants in the underground aquifers.
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