Russian State University of Oil and Gas, Moscow, Russia:

Kornilov I. A., Post-Graduate Student, e-mail: korn55@mail.ru

Belgorod State University, Belgorod, Russia:

Kolmykov S. N., Senior Lecturer, Candidate of Geographyc Sciences

Petin A. N., Dean, Professor, Doctor of Geographyc Sciences

Belgorod region is the most important mining part of a region of Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (KMA). Drainage operations of water bearing iron ore deposits of KMA, along with construction of water reservoirs with significant volumes (tailing dumps, sludge reservoirs), led to the current serious changes in natural water balance of territories, including Vorskla river, Oskolets river, Chufichka river and Oskol river.

The chemical composition of Vorskla river waters was researched in 2007, 2011 and 2012. The research results have shown that the mine waters of Yakovlevsky mine dilute the high content of nitrates in Vorskla river of more than 10-15 km of river flow. The presence of significant quantity of Fe, Cu, Zn and Pb both in waters of river and in drainage flows, is substantiated by the following factors:

- high natural content of Cu, Zn, and Fe in the subsoils of Belgorod region;

- large quantity of anthropogenic sources of Pb, Cu, Zn and Fe;

- inflow of compounds of Fe and other elements from the confluents of Vorskla river.

The impact zone of industrial effluents of Yakovlevskiy mine is retraced up to 60 km in the flow of Vorskla river.

The Oskol river is under the significant inflence of mining enterprises of Stary Oskol and Gubkin industrial area. The waste waters of Lebedinsky and Stoylenskiy ore dressing and processing enterprises come to the Oskol river, by means of its confluents. The held researches of chemical composition of water, show that the content of all contaminants (except the solid residual and sulphates) decreases after the ingress of waste waters into the Oskolets river (oil products — from 3,4 to 0,6 of maximum allowable concentration; iron — from 5 to 3 of maximum allowable concentration; manganese — from 3,5 to 2,5 of maximum allowable concentration; copper — from 9 to 3 of maximum allowable concentration). After the discharge of waste waters, the solid residual and sulphates increase to 1,07 and 1,03 times respectively. The dynamic impact area on the waters of Oskol river is for about 15 km downstream from the place of last discharge (Yablonovo village).

In spite of the high anthropogenic load, the water and near-water ecosystems keep their structure and functions. According to the total biological parameters, the quality of water can be rated as «moderately polluted». There is observed the abundance of water and near-water vegetation, as well as the variety of animals. The ecosystems of valley reaches of river and water protection areas are approximated to natural or agrogenic.

The researches were held within the realization of the State Assignment of Ministry of Science and Education of Russian Federation at 2012, by Belgorod State National Research University (Order No. 5.1739.2011).

1. Kornilov A. G., Kolmykov S. N., Kichigin E. V., Gordeev L.Y. Gornyy Informatsionno-Analiticheskiy Byulleten — Mining Informational and Analytical Bulletin, 2010, No. 6, pp. 134–139.

2. Kolmykov S. N., Kornilov A. G., Kichigin E. V. Vozdeystvie razrabotki Yakovlevskogo mestorozhdeniya na ekologicheskoe sostoyanie reki Vorskla (The development impact of Yakovlevskiy deposit on the ecological state of the Vorskla river). Voprosy osusheniya, gornopromyshlennoy geologii i okhrany nedr, geomekhaniki, promyshlennoy gidrotekhniki, geoinformatiki, ekologii : materialy IX mezhdunarodnogo simpoziuma (Problems of draining, mining industrial geology and concervation of mineral resources, geomechanics, industrial hydraulic engineering, geoinformatics, ecology : materials of the IX International Symposium). Belgorod, "VIOGEM" Institute, 21–25 May 2007, pp. 371–375.

3. Kornilov A. G., Petin A. N., Lebedeva M. G., Kolmykov S. N., Petin M. A. Problemy regionalnoy ekologii — Problems of regional ecology, 2012, No. 2, pp. 58–62.

4. Kornilov A. G., Petin A. N., Kolmykov S. N. Otsenka ekologicheskogo ushcherba vodnym obektam (na primere deyatelnosti predpriyatiy gornodobyvayushchego kompleksa Kurskoy Magnitnoy Anomalii) (Assessment of ecological damage to water facilities (by the example of the activities of the enterprises of the mining complex of Kursk Magnetic Anomaly)). Izmeneniya sostoyaniya okruzhayushchey sredy v stranakh sodruzhestva v usloviyakh tekushchego izmeneniya klimata (Changings of the state of the environment in the countries of the Commonwealth in the current changings of climate). Under the editorship of V. M. Kotlyakov. Moscow : Media-Press, 2008, 232 p.

5. Kolmykov S. N., Kornilov I. A. Ekologicheskoe sostoyanie vodnykh obektov Starooskolsko-Gubkinskogo rayona kak elementov ekologicheskogo i rekreatsionnogo karkasa (Ecological status of water bodies of Stary Oskol and Gubkin region as the elements of ecological and recreational framework). Sovremennye problemy osvoeniya nedr : materialy II Mezhdunarodnoy zaochnoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii molodykh uchenykh, aspirantov i studentov (Modern problems of the subsoils exploitation: materials of the II International scientific and practical correspondence conference of young scientists, post-graduate students and students). Belgorod : Publishing house "Belgorod", 2012, pp. 153–156.