Anastasia Sergeevna Gorlenko

The most promising areas of ecological assessment, regulation and quality management of soils and lands are: the study of their ecological functions and the role of the anthropogenic factors in the formation of the natural complex of lands that has developed within land plots, taking into account natural conditions, the type of land use and the relationship with natural environments; study of natural connections between the soil cover and subsurface geological layers; determination of permissible changes in soil quality during oil pollution, forest and peat harvesting taking into account the prospects of natural self-restoration of landscapes; the study of direct and inverse relationships of soils, aquatic environments and amphibian landscapes in conditions of land pollution; identification of the func- tional relationship between the state of soils and the quality of atmospheric air; study of aspects of contact of soils and other components of the environment with waste. The analysis of the existing legal norms aimed at protecting soils as a component of the environment allowed us to conclude that the structure of environmental legislation is incomplete, within the framework of which, among the existing federal laws regulating the protection of environ- mental components, a Law on Soil Protection needs to be developed.

As part of the study of the ecological state of soils and vegetation in the zone of impact of the Sredneuralsky Copper Smelter (SUMZ), the following tasks were solved: the content of heavy metals in the soils of the test sites laid within the zone of impact of the SUMZ was determined; macrokinetic patterns of seasonal dynamics of the normalized relative vegetation index (NDVI) at the test sites in the zone of impact of the SUMZ were revealed; macrokinetic patterns of vegetation response in the form of NDVI, calculated according to MODIS and Landsat 8 data, to soil pollution by a complex of heavy metals in the zone of impact of the SUMZ were revealed; soil quality was ranked according to the patterns of vegetation response in the form of NDVI to soil pollution by a complex of heavy metals within the boundaries of the natural protection zone (NZZ) of the SUMZ according to 2023.

The intra-seasonal dynamics of photosynthetically active biomass in the form of NDVI was modeled using a theoretical growth equation based on MODIS satellite data. The seasonal maximum of the vegetation index at the trial sites in 2012 fell on the 25‒28 week. In 2023, it occurred on the 27‒33 week, depending on the location of the sampling point. The rate of maximum achievement is characterized by weak intra-seasonal and interannual variation.

The patterns of changes in the concentration of photosynthetically active biomass in the form of maximum NDVI for the 2023 season in response to the gross content of a complex of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Cd and Zn) in the soil of the test sites were modeled using the theoretical equation of dose dependence. The maximum permissible level of the heavy metal complex in the soil in the form of a geometric mean, which does not cause a decrease in the values of the vegetation index calculated according to the data of the MODIS and Landsat 8 satellites, was 101 and 106 mg×kg^-1, respectively.

The analysis of histograms of the distribution of NDVI values within the NZZ was carried out, which showed how the true frequencies of occurrence of the values of the vegetation index correspond to the empirical boundary of the NZZ associated with the maximum dose dependence point identified by the study of the 2012. The nature of the distribution of true NDVI values for the NZZ exclusively fully supports the used zoning theory based on the analysis of dose dependence. The modern boundaries of the SUMZ natural protection zone are 4‒7 km away from the center of the sanitary protection zone.