No 2 (2023)

Completion of the development of mineral deposits requires the development of new methods for managing areas disturbed by mining. The closure of mining facilities, especially those with a long history of mining forms a difficult environmental situation. This is determined by several factors. The development of deposits is accompanied by drainage measures changing the balance and structure of surface and groundwater flows, and new chemical agents are involved in the formation of the qualitative composition of the hydrosphere. The use of mined-out space during the development of schemes with roof collapse induces geomechanical processes forming the zones of collapse and displacement accompanied by disturbances of the Earth’s surface. The cessation of mine operation means the stop of drainage, which leads to the gradual filling of the depression funnel, the formation of flooding areas and mine water outlets to the surface. Unstable rocks in the quarry sides, on which there were landslides even during drainage, become especially dangerous areas when the water level rises. Taking in consideration that residential and industrial buildings are often historically located in close proximity to mines (sometimes even within the mining allotment), the hydrogeoecological problems of old industrial areas at the post-operational stage become very acute. At the same time, in many cases it is difficult to determine, which factors, natural (features of the geological structure, geomorphological conditions, water content of the period) or technogenic (cessation of drainage) are responsible for territory flooding, especially in the areas distant from the objects of completed mining. This gives rise to numerous speculations and leads to irrational technical solutions. By the example of the Chelyabinsk coal basin, the ecological and hydrogeological problems are considered that arise after mining completion and drainage termination. The measures for reducing their negative impact on the hydrogeoecological conditions of the territory are proposed.

In spite of the fact that almost everywhere in the territories of historic cities, under the influence of the shortcomings of landscaping, there is a progressive technogenesis of the geological environment and groundwater, which can lead to the destruction of architectural monuments and historically valuable buildings, this problem remains poorly studied. Given the enormous scale of work on the improvement of the historical territories, which is planned to perform under the national projects and municipal programs, the study of this direction to improve the design methodology and engineering surveys as an objective basis for the development of design decisions, is very relevant. For the historical territories of cities that include architectural monuments and valuable buildings, specialized methods of design and engineering and environmental surveys, geoecological monitoring, including measures to ensure the preservation of cultural heritage, are necessary. The article provides a review of literary sources, analysis of examples, and actual data confirming the impact of landscaping factors on the state of cultural heritage sites (CHS). The most significant in terms of the impact on the geological environment and, accordingly, on the preservation of monuments of architecture are the shortcomings of vertical planning and drainage. In the conditions of high-density housing development, the unsatisfactory improvement can stimulate the processes of underflooding, suffosion, and karst, as well as the general technogenesis of soils, and loss of the bearing capacity of the bases and foundations. Underflooding of basements, “soaking” of walls, and formation of cracks on facades can be observed in architectural monuments and historical buildings. The study summarizes the observations and results obtained by the authors – representatives of various specialties (engineers, geologist, architect-restorer) at various stages of their creative work and takes into account the long experience of OOO “IGBI” on the design of improvement on the historical territories of Moscow.

Environmentally friendly disposal of drainage water arising from the development of diamond tubes is currently becoming very acute for reducing technogenic load on the environment and for introducing new methods and technical solutions. Drainage water from the Daldynskoe kimberlite field were pumped into the Oktyabrsky (1985–2002), Kiengsky (2003–2012), and Levoberezhny (2012–2023) sites at different periods of the deposit development. Currently, Levoberezhny-2 site is being used, which has partially exhausted its useful capacity. As a result, the task was set to determine the possibilities for the further use of permafrost reservoirs in the study area, to identify and evaluate the most promising areas for future injection. The objects of study include the Upper Cambrian strata in the permafrost bottom, below the main erosion bases in the study area. A set of search features (criteria) of structures suitable for pumping drainage water into permafrost has been identified. These are tectonic, structural, geophysical, gas-dynamic, geomorphological, hydrogeological, temperature criteria. Taking into account the analysis of the available information on cryohydrogeological, lithofacial and structural-geological structure of the study area, a forecast map of areas that are promising for geological study and further trial operation was compiled, with an assessment of their useful volumes. The most promising areas are Daldynsky, Pravoberezhny and Sugunakhsky sites. The preliminary estimated useful volumes of these areas, in the case of the use of already developed technologies, are: Daldynsky ~11 million m³; Pravoberezhny ~17.5 million m³; and Sugunakhsky ~11.5 million m³. In other words, with projected drainage water inflow, the considered areas will allow additional pumping of ~40 million m³, which will ensure further environmentally safe mining of the Daldynskoe kimberlite field at least until the mid-2030s. The suggested method of pumping drainage water can be used in related industrial fields for mining not only kimberlite pipes, but also other solid minerals in the permafrost zone.

Changing geocryological conditions and the permafrost zone landscape due to climate change is currently an acute issue actively studied by many researchers. However, insufficient attention is paid to the change in the morphological structure and quantitative analysis. The aim of the study was a quantitative analysis of morphological structure of the thermokarst plains with fluvial erosion and lacustrine thermokarst plains. The study was carried out based on satellite imagery, including archival images of Corona with a resolution of 3–12 m/pix, for 1961–1979, and a set of modern high-resolution images of 0.5–2.5 m/pix for 2008–2019. Analysis of changes in the morphological structure of thermokarst plains was carried out in 9 key areas located in the zone of continuous permafrost, in the north of the West Siberian Lowland, at the mouth of the Lena River, in Eastern Siberia, on Baffin Island. Checking statistical differences between samples 1961–1979 and 2013–2019 using the Smirnov criterion revealed statistically significant differences in the distributions of lake areas of the thermokarst plains with fluvial erosion in only two sites. In one of these areas, the changes are of a smooth and integral-exponential form of the distribution of lake areas preserved. Assessment of the significance of statistical differences for 1964–1976 and 2008–2014 for the thermokarst plains revealed a significant difference for only one area. The change in the morphological structure of the thermokarst plains with fluvial erosion due to climatic changes is more intense than that of thermokarst plains; changes affected 22% of key areas versus 12% near thermokarst plains with fluvial erosion. Key areas where changes have been identified are located on the Yamal Peninsula. The resistance of morphological structures to climatic changes is higher than that of individual components of the landscape. Erosion processes are the first to respond to climatic changes, and the change in these processes leads to a change in the distribution of the areas of thermokarst lakes in thermokarst plains with fluvial erosion during the intensification of their descent and transformation into khasyreys.

The results of assessing pollution of bottom sediments in four small rivers of the Vladimir region with heavy metals (HM) and phosphates are presented. According to HM concentration coefficients characterizing the concentration (anomaly) of elements in bottom sediments in respect to their background content in the region, the zones of technogenic multi-element geochemical anomalies in the channels of all studied watercourses and their structure were identified. It has been established that Fe, Pb, Co, Cu, Zn, Cr, and Mn are the priority metals of technogenic geochemical anomalies in bottom sediments. The highest pollution of bottom sediments with these metals is typical for the zones influenced by the runoff from the territories of collective orchards, livestock complexes, large industrial cities and rural settlements. According to the total pollution indicator (Zc), which reflects the additive excess of the background content of a group of heavy metals that are part of technogenic geochemical anomalies, the studied watercourses are located in the following order: Sodyshka > Kamenka > Rpen > Ilevna, and according to the phosphate content: Sodyshka > Rpen > > Kamenka > Ilevna. Correlations between the components of bottom sediments have been studied. The average load of heavy metals and phosphates on watercourses was assessed.

The article presents a description of the rank model for calculating the recreational load on the territory of green open space. The object of our research is the demand for open green spaces in the city for local residents. Our model is based on the theory of chances. Within the framework of research need imagine that all territories (including territories of location green open space and territories of location residential district) are taken as material points. This means that the internal structure of the allocated territory can be ignored within the framework of this model. The attitude of the urban population towards green spaces that are close to their place of residence is important to study in different ways. Our model includes two parts: in the first part of this model the recreational load is considered as a mathematical expectation of the number of visitors; in the second part, the recreational load is considered as a Poisson random variable with a time-dependent parameter. Decision makers can use this model for substantiation of urban planning standards, for developing urban areas and for landscaping.