Monitoring of objects of accumulated environmental damage at the mouth of the Kharlovka River (Murmansk region)

Murmansk Arctic University, Murmansk, Russian Federation

^* Corresponding author: dendrobium@yandex.ru

Abstract

The article presents the results of monitoring of objects of accumulated environmental damage (ECD) on the coast of the Barents Sea in the vicinity of the mouth of the Kharlovka River (Murmansk region), adjacent to the “Seven Islands Archipelago” section of the Kandalaksha State Nature Reserve (SNP), where marine life nests en masse birds. The relevance of monitoring the ecosystems of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation is associated with the need to take into account their high environmental significance when designing measures for the elimination of NEU and reclamation. The purpose of the study is to assess the NES in the area of the mouth of the Kharlovka River. A comprehensive engineering and environmental survey included an inventory of NEU facilities, identification and accounting of the amount of accumulated waste. For the first time, the content of pollutants in soils in waste disposal sites in this area was studied. For two NEU facilities in the water protection zone of the Barents Sea, a high level of pollution with oil products is shown. It has been established that the content of Zn, Cd, Pb and Cu in the soil is at an acceptable level. The state of the soil cover indicates the beginning of soil degradation at the mouth of the Kharlovka River even during the creation of a storage facility for fuels and lubricants; now on more than a third of the area the fertile layer is completely absent, the rest has fragmented soil and vegetation cover. High levels of contamination of well-drained sandy soil with petroleum products pose a threat of leaching of pollutants with surface runoff and further accumulation in food chains. In connection with this, the elimination of non-reinforced plants at the mouth of the Kharlovka River requires the use of highly effective soil remediation methods.