Home – Home – Jornals – Chemistry for Sustainable Development 2017 number 2

Assessment of the chemical composition of snow melt water was carried out in the zone of influence of the aerial technogenic load from the largest source of emissions in the territory of the Murmansk Region that is a copper-nickel combine (Monchegorsk area) of the Kola Mining and Metallurgical AO. The results of direct analytical determination in the framework of annual monitoring were complemented by the results of retrospective analysis by means of physicochemical modelling (Selektor program complex). The obtained results testify a change in the deportments of elements in snow melt water when decreasing the level of the multicomponent aerial technogenic load after production modernization. The minimisation of dust emissions and an increase in the efficiency of purification of fume gases from sulphurous anhydride contributed to a shift of the redox potential of snow melt water from the negative to positive region and a transfer of some pollutants elements with a variable valence into the oxidized form. A decrease in dust emissions that exerted the alkalinizing effect contributed to an increase in water acidity and consequently, an increase of the proportion in them of the aluminium ionic form recognized most toxic for biota. The sulphates concentration in the atmospheric deposition of the winter season currently does not go beyond All-Russian weighted average concentrations even in the local area of model objects. Increasing the proportion of copper chloride complexes was noted in snow melt water, a basic pollutant, which testifies a possible increase in its migratory activity that is driven by an increasing effect of sea aerosols when softening the regional climate. The practical significance of the work is expressed in an opportunity to reconstruct element speciation in melt water both during retrospective analyses and planning the procedure of biotesting in engineering and environmental survey and monitoring studies.