Regional peculiarities of micro-element accumulation in objects in the transural region of the Republic of Bashkortostan

Abstract

Objective The objective was to study the peculiarities of micro-element accumulation in environmental objects (soil, vegetation, human body) in the region of the Southern (Bashkir) Transurals, which lacks large industrial plants. Method The research was conducted throughout 2014 in the area of the Southern (Bashkir) Transurals, which includes the Burzyansky, Zilairsky, and Zianchurinsky administrative districts of the republic of Bashkortostan. Samples were collected from 4 to 5 sample areas in each district. The obtained data were averaged. Results The soils were contaminated by copper and zinc (Zilairsky and Zianchurinsky District), iron (Zianchurinsky, Zilairsky, Burzyansky District), manganese (almost all studied soils), cadmium (most of the studied soils, especially Zilairsky District). Despite the differences in the levels of heavy metals, all the studied soils had an acceptable level of contamination. The heavy metal concentration levels in the dry matter of plants growing in the soils of the Southern Transurals exceeded the acceptable limits in some cases, in particular lead (more than 10 times), cadmium (more than 6 times), and zinc (2 times). The research shows that the level of chemical elements in the soil can affect their accumulation in the bodies of people living in the area.Conclusions The results show the perspectives of related scientific fields (between medicine, geology, and ecology), with an aim to study the elemental “portrait” of the population of biogeochemical provinces to which the Southern Urals belong, with the object of scientific research and the implementation of programs designed for elimination of elemental imbalance in the human body.