Home – Home – Jornals – Contemporary Problems of Ecology 2014 number 6

The content of pollutants in snow samples and their composition were determined. The obtained data on the contents of nickel, copper and other heavy metals and sulfur were used to assess the patterns of snow cover pollution in the Norilsk industrial area. Maps of spatial distribution of heavy metals and sulfur in the region were compiled. The major part of the pollutants entering the atmosphere in the form of dust was deposited on the underlying surface near the sources of industrial emissions (up to 7 km from them). The pollutants entering the atmosphere in the form of aerosols and gases were transported over considerable distances. Greater concentrations of water-soluble forms of sulfur, compared with the background, were marked at a distance of more than 400 km. Calculations showed that only 2 % of sulfur emissions were deposited within 250 km from the sources of emissions, and the remaining portion of sulfur incorporated into the global geochemical cycles.