Content of Heavy Metals in the Lichens of Winter Reindeer Pastures of the Timan and Bolshezemelskaya Tundras

Marija Menshakova (), Miłosz Huber, Ramziya Gainanova, Valeriia Surovets, Nina Moiseeva, Anastasiia Nizikova and Marina Mashinets
Additional contact information
Marija Menshakova: Department of NaturalSciences, Murmansk Arctic State University, Kapitan Egorov Str., 15, Murmansk 183038, Russia
Miłosz Huber: Department of Geology, Soil Science and Geoinformacy, Faculty of Earth Science and Spatial Management, Maria Curie—Skłodowska University, 2d/107 Kraśnickie Rd, 20-718 Lublin, Poland
Ramziya Gainanova: Department of NaturalSciences, Murmansk Arctic State University, Kapitan Egorov Str., 15, Murmansk 183038, Russia
Valeriia Surovets: Department of NaturalSciences, Murmansk Arctic State University, Kapitan Egorov Str., 15, Murmansk 183038, Russia
Nina Moiseeva: Department of NaturalSciences, Murmansk Arctic State University, Kapitan Egorov Str., 15, Murmansk 183038, Russia
Anastasiia Nizikova: Department of NaturalSciences, Murmansk Arctic State University, Kapitan Egorov Str., 15, Murmansk 183038, Russia
Marina Mashinets: Department of NaturalSciences, Murmansk Arctic State University, Kapitan Egorov Str., 15, Murmansk 183038, Russia

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-12

Abstract: This article is devoted to the study of the contents of zinc, cadmium, copper, and lead in lichen in the pastures of reindeer studs in the Timan and Bolshezemelskaya tundras. These areas are located in the Arctic part of Russia, to the west of the Polar Urals. These are areas where carbonate and sandstone rocks of the Permian–Mesozoic age dominate under the soil cover, as well as older deposits located in the western part of the research area (dated to the Cambrian–Devonian period). In these rocks, there is mineralization with metals, including copper. Research carried out in 2018 showed that in the surface layer of lichens, the concentration of metals was assessed differently in the upper, middle, and lower parts of the hill. On this basis, it was possible to identify clean and contaminated pastures. The high copper content in some pastures can be explained by the migration of metal ions from the parent rock. Due to the similar ionic radius of copper and the higher electrocativity in relation to zinc, the metal was probably displaced in the lichen. The observed concentrations can cause high levels of metals in the tissues and organs of deer. A high content of metals in lichens was found in samples collected near industrial enterprises, as well as at a considerable distance from them. At the same time, lichens at some locations near boiler houses or oil rigs are quite pure. In this regard, it has been suggested that the source of pollutants can be either natural factors (copper-bearing sands) or the ingress of metals from a remotely located source.

Keywords: heavy metals; lead; copper; biological permeability; lichens; reindeer pastures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/10/1560/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/10/1560/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:10:p:1560-:d:926619

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().