Eco-Geochemical Assessment of the Content of Pollutants in Hummocky Bogs of the Kola Peninsula

Abstract

The results of eco-geochemical survey of hummocky bogs of the Kola Peninsula at the southern border of their area showed that the climate changes in the recent 60–80 years and the impact of aerotechnogenic pollution did not affect the area of hummocky bog complexes and the depth of the thawing peat layer of conventionally reference and impact high-moor bogs. In the zone affected by the emissions from the Severonikel smelter (Monchegorsk), the content of Ni and Cu in the peat high-moor soils (Cryic Ombric Fibric Histosols) is 60–90 times higher than the level of accumulation of the same metals in the peat of conventionally reference bogs. The S, Cd, Cr, and Pb contents in the compared bog massifs did not differ significantly. In the frozen horizon of the impact bogs, the Ni and Cu content was significantly greater (~ 2 times) than their content in the same layer of the conventionally background bogs, which indicates a vertical migration of pollutants down the peat profile and a deeper technogenic transformation of cryogenic massifs due to the effects of atmospheric emissions from the plant. The profile distribution of pollutants (Ni, Cu, Pb, S, Cr, and Cd) in the peat layer of the impact and conventionally background bogs has its own specific features.