Heavy metals and metalloids in urban soils of Russian cities (according to the annual reports of Rosgidromet)
The intensity and dynamics of soil contamination with Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, As, Sn, Hg, Sb, Mo, Cr, Co, Ni, V, Ti, Mn, Sr and Fe in 98 cities of Russia was evaluated through the analysis of a database compiled by the authors using the annual reports of soil contamination by toxicants of industrial origin in Russia. Over the last few decades due to the reduction of industrial and vehicular emissions mean concentrations of Hg, Zn, Sn, Mn in the soils of Russian cities decreased 3 to 5 times and the amounts of other heavy metals and metalloids (HMM) decreased 1.5 to 3 times. Besides, the geochemical anomality of Pb, Cu, Mo, As, Co, Cd increased 2 to 5 times simultaneously due to more contrasting technogenic geochemical anomalies near industrial enterprises, roads and railways. The direct connection between the population, area or density of the population in cities and soil contamination with HMM was not found. Extremely dangerous ecological situation is typical for Revda, Rezh, Kirovgrad (Sverdlovsk Oblast) and Vladikavkaz. A very dangerous situation was recorded in the Rudnaya Pristan (Primorsky Krai) and Belebei (Bashkortostan). A dangerous ecological situation is typical for the cities of Pervouralsk, Polevskoy, Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sukhoy Log, Alapaevsk, Nizhniye Sergi, Nevyansk (Sverdlovsk Oblast), Baymak, Sibai, Davlekanovo (Bashkortostan). Mainly polyelement geochemical anomalies were formed in the soils of the majority of cities, with predominance of Cd and high content of Pb, Zn, Cu. Low-contrast mono-, bi- and, less often, three-element geochemical anomalies are common for soils of the cities with non-hazardous ecological situation. To make the analysis of soil contamination by HMM in Russian cities more complete it is necessary to widen the list of controlled pollutants, adding Sb, As and some other elements, as well as to increase the number of studied settlements, especially by including the large cities and industrial centers, which are absent in the annual reports.