Geology, geography and global energy

Scientific and Technical Journal

Geochemical characteristics of the environmental components of catchments and small water bodies in an urban environment

2022. №3, pp. 137-156

Seleznev Andrian A. - 

Ryanskaya Anastasia D. - 

Okuneva Tatyana G. - 

Yarmoshenko Ilia V. - 

Malinovsky Georgy P. - 

Analysis of the relationship between the geochemical characteristics of the solid material of the environmental components of the catchments and bottom sediments of small water bodies has been carried out. The study was conducted on the example of surface undrained ponds in Ekaterinburg (Russia): Kharitonovsky Garden and Chemodanchik. The geochemical sampling methodology used was the transect catenary complex approach. The catenary complex represents a three-dimensional body which combines the lateral and catenary characteristics of the landscape together with an area of landform in the transect (in other words, the catenary complex represents the catchment area together with the waterbody). The catchment was partitioned along the transect into laterally conjugate functional landscape segments, successively alternating with each other in the direction from the local watershed to the local base of denudation (water body). In the catenary complex, environmental components were sampled in different functional areas of the landscape during the warm season: soil, contemporary surface-deposited sediments, road dust. Bottom sediments were collected from the water body during the cold period of the year. The elemental, mineral and radionuclide composition of the samples was determined. The trends and mechanisms of the geochemical conditions of water bodies were determined. The relationship between the geochemical characteristics of the solid material of the surface sediment formed in the urban area and the solid material of the bottom sediments was revealed.

Key words: urban environment, catchment, surface waterbody, slope landscape, urban surface deposited sediments, soil, catenary complex, bottom sediments

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