Impact of the coastal taiga fires onto chemical elemental composition of soils, grounds and near-shore waters of Bolshoy Ushkaniy Island (Lake Baikal, Siberia)

Abstract

In order to study the chemicals drainage into the lake near-shore zone from burnt out forest territories by ICP-MS method, we determined elemental composition of soils from forest territories in the shore zone on Bolshoy Ushkaniy Island, which were damaged by the fire, which were not damaged by the fire, of ash from burnt anthills, of grounds and water of near-shore zone adjacent to sites of burnt forest and of forest site, which was not burnt (background one). The research found out that the shore zone with damaged by fire vegetation and soil cover and burnt anthills, compared to background site, is a more abundant source of mobile chemical compounds, especially of P, S, K, Ca, Mn, Zn, Mo, Cd, Ba. Their considerable part with surface flow and interflow migrate out of soil profile, accumulate temporarily in the base of shore scarp and are transferred gradually into the adjacent to the shore scarp zone of splash and further, into the lake shallow water zone.