THE ROLE OF NEPHELINE IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE KHIBINY MOUNTAINS

Abstract

The article examines the history of industrial pollution in the Khibiny Mountains on the Kola Peninsula during the Soviet period from the stance of a specific pollutant. Nepheline was a byproduct of the phosphate fertilizer industry based on apatite extraction and enrichment. It first served as inspiration for quasi-conservationist schemes to eliminate industrial wastes, including the development of the idea of the complex utilization of natural resources by geochemist Alexander Fersman. Soviet industrialists in the Khibiny Mountains thought that they could expand production and eliminate pollution by completely using all byproducts of economic activities. But nepheline proved more difficult to manage and control than they had expected. Over the decades nepheline became a chief source of environmental pollution in the region, especially its rivers and lakes. As phosphate production in the Khibiny Mountains grew dramatically, the recycling of extracted nepheline failed to keep pace and instead brought about negative environmental consequences. By tracing this material and efforts to manage it, the article shows how human engagement with physical elements of the natural world affected what the Soviet system tried to and was able to accomplish. It offers a different perspective on the two-sided role that an industrial byproduct can play in the environmental history of a region: one that puts the materials of production at the center of the account.