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

It was found that mercury contents in saline soils of Bol’shoye Yarovoye Lake met the average content in solonetz soils of the steppe zone of Altai Territory. Differences between types of soils are explained by the peculiarities of solonetz and solonchak processes. The distribution of mercury in bottom deposits is uneven both along cores on depth of individual wells, and in different wells. The average content of mercury and the value of the Hg/Al ratio in bottom deposits are significantly higher than their values in soils because of local pollution. Low mercury contents and Hg/Al ratios were found in coastal wells only. Factor analysis and pair correlation method detected differences in correlations of mercury between soils and bottom sediments both in granulometric fractions, and the initial samples. Correlation analysis results in the initial samples of soils and bottom sediments give the overall picture of mercury distribution in the sedimentation process. Mercury in soils has positive correlations with the terrigenous component that is its major natural source. A negative correlation with the “carbonate” group (Са, Mg, Sr) and antimony is typical. Mercury in bottom deposits has positive correlations with antimony and manganese, and is bound with the major composition of precipitates indirectly only. These results argue of a change in the deportment of mercury in the sedimentation process, which confirms its local entrance into precipitation from a technogenic source that is accompanied by antimony.