Assessment and abatement of the eco-risk caused by mine spoils in the dry subtropical climate

Abstract

The highly rugged mountainous land topography of the Novorossiysk industrial agglomeration (NW Caucasus, Krasnodar Krai, Russia) and arid climate limit the restoration abilities of disturbed mine lands. Abandoned waste-rock dumps of a marl quarry occupy an area of ca. 150,000 m2 next to the cement plant, residential districts, and a commercial seaport. To assess the eco-risk, topsoil horizons of urban and mine-site Technosols and background Rendzinas were sampled and analyzed; measurements of particulate matter fractions PM1, PM2.5, PM4, and PM10 were conducted throughout the agglomeration. Fugitive dust emission from the unreclaimed marl dumps raises the PM2.5 content in the air by a factor of 2.68 on average. The high sorption capacity of the fine eluvium results in the accumulation of urban emissions by the dust and contributes to the subsequent soil pollution; the Cumulative Pollution Index of pedochemical anomalies reaches the high-risk level over the areas of up to 5 km2. Environmental threats caused by the mine dumps can be assessed more reliably by means of land zoning based on accumulated environmental damage indicators and the debris flow and waterspout risk calculation. To abate the technogenic impact caused by the mine spoils, reclamation actions must be taken including soil stabilization on sensitive sites by application of geosynthetic cover, hydroseeding of the mixture of soil improvers and seeds of herbaceous plants on the slopes, and anti-erosion plantation of cades (Juniperus oxycedrus L.) and smoke trees (Cotinus coggygria Scop.) at subhorizontal surfaces.

Improvement of quarry and slagheap reclamation technology

“…A promising direction that will significantly reduce the negative impact of man-made landscape facilities on the environment, while obtaining a positive economic effect, is the reclamation and treatment of disturbed areas [11].…”

“…Much attention in current scientific works on the reclamation of anthropogenically damaged areas is paid to the selection and evaluation of the relevant flora and fauna [12], climatic factors [13], and chemical indicators of soils [11] of a certain renewable area. Comprehensive reclamation measures, according to the authors of [14], should include strengthening of soils in vulnerable areas by hydro-sowing of a mixture of soil improvers, geosynthetic coating, and anti-erosion planting on subhorizontal (angle of inclination <2°) and slope (angle of inclination >2°) surfaces, etc.…”

Control of pollutants in the atmospheric air on the example of an automated monitoring system in St. Petersburg

“…According to the established program, concentrations of the main pollutants (carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, particulate matter of various fractions) are determined at the monitoring stations in real time (figure 1). The content of nitrogen oxides is measured at all 25 stations, ozone -at 13 (stations 2, 7, 8, 9,11,14,15,17,18,19,23,24,25).…”

“…For example, VOCs react with nitrogen oxides, forming ozone and ultrafine particles, which are a component of photochemical smog [21,22], which has a negative impact on humans, vegetation, and climate [22]. In addition, the oxidation of VOCs leads to the formation of secondary organic aerosols, which are an important component of solid impurities (particulate matter PM2.5) [19,23], which also adversely affects public health [24][25][26], namely, the impact of particulate matter leads to the development of cardiovascular, respiratory and oncological diseases [27]. It is important to note that the formation of secondary pollutants directly depends on the amount of VOCs.…”

The influence of dump rock of the granite quarry on the quality of soils of adjacent areas

“…Такий прогноз дозволить побудувати карту-схему концентрацій пилу, з якої можна зробити висновок про рівні забруднення територій пилом, про дотримання встановлених норм щодо пилу як в межах санітарно-захисної зони, так і поза нею. Однією із найпростіших способів визначення розсіювання є модель Гауса, на основі якої розроблено багато спеціалізованих програм (AERMOD, AUSPLUME, MERCURE, RIMPUFF, Gaussian Dispersion Model Calculator, УПРЗА "ЕКО центр" та інші), а також розрахункові методики, зокрема документ ОНД−86 та інші [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Методика останнього характеризується найбільшим розрахованим значенням концентрації, відповідним несприятливим метеорологічним умовам, в тому числі небезпечній швидкості вітру [4].…”