Assessment of ecological and geochemical condition of soils and dust content of atmospheric air in the residential zone of the mining industry center

The research studies the content of heavy metals (HM) in soils of residential zones of Sibay – the mining industry center of the South-East of the Republic of Bashkortostan. It is shown that in soils under herbaceous vegetation there is an increased content of a number of HMS, such as copper, zinc and cadmium. At the same time the areas located under the crown of Betula pendula Roth. are less contaminated with HM compared to open areas. Reduced content of a number of metals (iron, cadmium, cobalt and mobile forms of Nickel) in soils under the crown of the Roth confirms the barrier role of woody plants that protect the soil from airborne toxicants. The study showed the prospects of using a birch as a type of accumulator-phytoremediant in the greening of the mining region urban areas of the Republic of Bashkortostan. Studies of TM content in organs and tissues have shown that representatives of the species growing in Sibay can accumulate a significant amount of phytotoxicants, especially zinc, the content of which ranged 1041–1855 mg/kg. One of the sources of the increased TM content in the leaves and the bark of trees is dust. The paper presents a comparative study of the dustiness of birch leaves growing in the Central part of the city with heavy traffic and in the vicinity of the Sibay quarry, developing a Deposit of copper-zinc ore. The amount of dust on the leaves collected near the dumps of the Sibay quarry was 3,53 ± 0,64 g/m², which is less than in the Central part of the city, where this figure reached 41,04 ± 10,38 g/m². Obviously, this is due to the fact that the dumps of the Sibay quarry are located in an open and intensively ventilated area, which explains the strong dispersion of dust. At the same time dust particles near the quarry dumps are much more contaminated with manganese, cobalt and cadmium than in the Central part of the city.