Assessment of Chemical Pollution of the City of Severo-Kurilsk and the Coastal Zone of the Northwestern Part of Paramushir Island (Northern Kuril Islands)

Abstract

This paper presents data on the contents of metals (Zn, Mn, Cu, Ni, Cr, Pb, and Cd) in ash, soils, higher plants, and marine brown algae of the northeastern part of Paramushir Island, which were collected in June 2024. The analysis revealed excesses of maximum permissible concentrations of heavy metals in soils for the gross forms Zn, Cu, and Cd, for the mobile forms Mn, Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd, in vegetation, Zn, Mn, Cu, Ni, Cr, and Cd, and in algae, Cd. A comprehensive ecological and geochemical assessment of the state of the soil and vegetation cover of the city and the coastal zone of the island revealed their pollution from low to extremely high levels. At the same time, the average value of the total pollution indicator (Z_c) for city soils was 14.4; it was 15.8 for higher plants and 4.8 for brown algae. Considering the small area of Severo-Kurilsk, the population that has not exceeded 3000 people in the last 20 years, and the weak economic and industrial activity, it should be assumed that at present a significant contribution to the chemical pollution of the studied territories is made by natural sources of heavy metals entering the components of the environment. In the areas affected by the ashfalls of the eruptions of the Ebeko volcano, increased concentrations of some elements in the soil and vegetation cover are recorded.