Assessment of the State of Soil-Vegetation Complexes Exposed to Powder-Gas Emissions of Nonferrous Metallurgy Enterprises

Environmental monitoring and state assessment of soil and vegetation in forest ecosystems, exposed to influence of industrial pollution of the nonferrous metallurgy enterprises, was the aim of conducted research. The object of the research was the JSC „Severonikel”, where the territory of anthropogenic influence is about 1,5 thousand square kilometers. More than 100 samples of plants and upper soil horizons, which were sampled at various distances from the manufacturing entities of enterprise, including background areas, were the result of the scientific expedition. All samples were analyzed in the laboratory for heavy metals content. It allowed to determine the general degree of contamination of the soil at different distances from the enterprise and to establish the migration patterns and accumulation of heavy metals in different horizons.