Open AccessBiogeochemical assessment of soils and plants in industrial, residential and recreational areas of Saint Petersburg
Author(s) -
М. А. Пашкевич,
Jaume Bech,
V. A. Matveeva,
Alexey V. Alekseenko
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
zapiski gornogo instituta
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.707
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 2541-9404
pISSN - 2411-3336
DOI - 10.31897/pmi.2020.1.125
Subject(s) - biogeochemical cycle , recreation , vegetation (pathology) , environmental science , saint petersburg , soil water , ecosystem , environmental protection , geography , forestry , ecology , soil science , medicine , pathology , regional science , biology , russian federation
Soils and plants of Saint Petersburg are under the constant technogenic stress caused by human activity in industrial, residential, and recreational landscapes of the city. To assess the transformed landscapes of various functional zones, we studied utility, housing, and park districts with a total area of over 7,000 hectares in the southern part of the city during the summer seasons of 2016-2018. Throughout the fieldwork period, 796 individual pairs of soil and plant samples were collected.A complex of consequent laboratory studies performed in an accredited laboratory allowed the characterization of key biogeochemical patterns of urban regolith specimens and herbage samples of various grasses. Chemical analyses provided information on the concentrations of polluting metals in soils and plants of different land use zones.Data interpretation and calculation of element accumulation factors revealed areas with the most unfavorable environmental conditions. We believe that a high pollution level in southern city districts has led to a significant degree of physical, chemical, and biological degradation of the soil and vegetation cover. As of today, approximately 10 % of the Technosols in the study area have completely lost the ability to biological self-revitalization, which results in ecosystem malfunction and the urgent need for land remediation.