MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. Scientists studied petroleum products’ concentrations in soil in Norilsk, where fuel spilled from a tank at a power plant, and said they did not find ecology hazardous contamination levels there, the Great Norilsk Expedition said in its final report.
The expedition was organized by the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch.
“The evaluation and analysis of petroleum products’ concentrations in surveyed soils of examined watersheds has not pointed to their high, ecologically hazardous levels even in the soil not far from the accident’s area,” the report reads. “Often, maximum high concentrations of petroleum products were seen not on the surface, but inside the lower layer of soil. Contamination of soil at depths more than 30-40 cm has not been registered.”
The structure of floodplain soils near the accident area is mostly of sand with a high share of big particles and a low concentration of silt and organic matter, thus they are not able to absorb and retain significant amounts of petroleum products and other chemicals, scientists said. The small depth of petroleum products in the soil could be explained by the soil’s frozen state, which did not allow the petroleum products to get accumulated in the soils or to get deeper into them. However, the floodplain soils differ in structures: near the power plant they are mostly sandy and sandy loam, and further down they are loamy.
“In terms of contamination levels and the levels of ground ecosystems’ transformations the surveyed territory may be divided preliminary into four zones: the area near Norilsk to the sources of the Ambarnaya River – unsatisfactory conditions; from the sources of the Ambarnaya River to the sources of the Pyasina River – satisfactory conditions; from the middle part of the Pyasina River (Kresty) to the Tareya – good conditions; the territories free from the anthropogenic impact from the Norilsk Industrial District are from the Tareya to the Kara Sea – they are in excellent soil-ecology conditions,” the report reads.
During the Great Norilsk Expedition’s field stage between July 27 and August 21, experts of the Institute of Soil Science and Agro-Chemistry surveyed changes in biodiversity and the soil cover’s conditions on a vast territory – from the accident site to the Kara Sea. Along the Bezymyannyi Brook, the Daldykan, Ambarnaya, Pyasina, Dudypta and Tareya Rivers and at the southern and northern shores of Lake Pyasino they picked more than 60 key areas to collect samples. The experts have tested 66 floral and 62 soil samples.
Expedition to Taimyr
The Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences for the first time over recent years has sent to the Taimyr Peninsula, at the invitation of Nornickel, a big scientific expedition to conduct a large-scale survey of the area. Scientists will use the expedition’s results to present nature-friendly solutions and suggestions for industrial companies, working in the Arctic.
The expedition’s key points were watersheds of the Rivers Pyasina, Norilka and Ambarnaya, and Lake Pyasino. In August, experts from 14 research institutes of the Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch collected samples of soils, plants and sediments and later began tests at the institutes’ labs.