Soil-ecological situation in Zheleznovodsk
Information on the top-soil of urban areas is necessary for detailed ecological studies. Administrative authorities need them to design schemes for the prospective development of the territory, as well as for preservation and expansion of the recreational zones. The object of research is the top-soil of Zheleznovodsk, the smallest city of the Caucasian Mineral Waters region. Zheleznovodsk is primarily a resort city, but it also includes industrial, motor transport and residential areas. Therefore, the control areas were located zones of increased industrial activity, while the background areas were set on the territories free from industrial and economic impact. The observation results established that the top-soil of Zheleznovodsk and its suburbs are affected by the type and intensity of the land use. The top-soil in the park-recreational and protected conservation zones of the city is most preserved. It is represented by the ordinary chernozem carbonate, rendzins and gray forest soils. In terms of the chemical composition the city’s native soils were not different from the zonal soils of the agricultural district. The most dangerous pollutants - zinc, lead, copper, molybdenum - were in concentrations not exceeding the MPC. Tungsten, thallium, silver, arsenic, cadmium, germanium were not found. At the local sites the concentration of zinc, lead, copper, and molybdenum exceeded the permissible values. Substantial areas with a high content of strontium, chromium, nickel could be explained by both natural geochemical anomalies of these metals and anthropogenic impact. However, the assessment results of the top-soil ecological condition depend on the method of the data interpretation. According to the hazard scale, the contamination of the soil in Zheleznovodsk was classified as "permissible" level contamination with heavy metals. On the other hand, considering the increased requirements to the soil condition in protected conservational and recreational areas, the level of soil pollution in the city of Zheleznovodsk could be estimated as average.