2023 Issue №2

Land reclamation must ensure that the quality of the land complies with environmental quality standards and the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation. The pur­pose of this work was to study the process of formation of a reclamation layer in open-cast coal mines. The indicators of the quality of the fertile soil layer should correlate to the quality of the fertile soil layer on average for the region. For effective recultivation, the fertile soil layer should be distinguished by a high content of humic acids and nutrients, as well as a higher degree of saturation with bases. The mechanical composition of the fertile soil layer should be loamy or clayey. Within agriculturally-focused reclamation, the thickness of the reclamation layer should be 0.8—1.5 m, depending on the moisture regime and the type of crop grown. The thickness of the bulk fertile soil layer depends on its availability and should in all cases be at least 0.3 m, in the chernozem zone — 0.4 m. The thickness of the fertile soil layer can be reduced to 0.20 m when arranging hayfields and pastures plots. During forest reclamation, the soil composition of the reclamation layer prepared for trees in the root layer (1.5—2 m) should be optimal for tree growth. Large (more than 0.3 m) stones should not be fixed at ground level (0.4—0.5 m), as this makes mechanization difficult. Also, the amount of fine-grained soil should not be lower than 5—10 %. Otherwise, a fertile soil layer should be ap­plied to the planned surface of the reclamation layer of the required thickness.

The aim of this study was to investigate the levels of emissions and identify the sources of NOx and SO2 pollution in a rural station in the south-eastern Baltic (Diabla Gora). This analysis was conducted using hourly NOx and SO2 concentration data and meteorological variables (wind speed and direction), which were analyzed over a period of four years (2018—2021). Time series plots, wind and pollutant roses, application of a conditional probability function, and inverse trajectories were considered to analyze the data and identify emission sources. The average concentration of NOx and SO2 for the study period was 2.12 µg/m3 and 0.27 µg/m3, respectively. The results showed a definite pattern for daily and monthly varia­tions, with peaks in the morning hours and at the beginning and end of the year (January and December, respectively). The main identified sources of NOx and SO2 emissions were located south of the monitoring station, particularly during cold periods when the highest concentra­tions were recorded.