Home – Home – Jornals – Geography and Natural Resources 2023 number 4

This article is devoted to the analysis of the results from investigating the soil geochemistry in the south of Russia, and assessing atmospheric pollution and the status of public health in some of the cities of Krasnodar krai and Rostov oblast. The research has been made for more than 30 years, including repeated tests of the soils (more than 10 000 samples) and settlements (about 3000 samples), and comprehensive assessments of the state environment of a large biosphere structure where almost 20 % of the population of Russia lives. The study revealed an increase in atmospheric pollution, concentrations of chemical elements in soils, and the negative impact of pollution on public health. The geochemistry of air pollution has a particularly strong effect on the increase in diseases of the upper respiratory tract. The highest degree of air pollution by aerosols in the south of Russia is noted in Novorossiisk. A three-dimensional analysis shows that the maximum percentage of diseases and increased mortality of newborns was detected in areas with old 1-2-storey buildings, and the minimum percentage of diseases in areas of multi-storey buildings. It is shown that the sickness rate in the population decreases with an increase in the storey of residence. Such a distribution of morbidity indicates a high level of atmospheric aerosol pollution. To confirm the toxicity of air pollution in cities, an ecological-geochemical assessment of the solid part of aerosols was made in comparison with natural deflationary aerosols. Geochemical features of various sources of aerosols in the atmospheric surface layer are revealed. It has been established that technogenic aerosols are enriched with a number of chemical elements, but especially intensively with Ag, Pb, Cu and Zn elements, polymetals that are not characteristic for the local geological situation and industrial specifics.