Geochemistry of Snow Cover of Mountain Permafrost Landscapes within the Elkon Uranium Ore District

Abstract

A snow cover within the Elkon uranium ore district located in South Yakutia is investigated. By landscape and climate relation it is a mid-taiga subzone permafrost boreal region of Eastern Siberia. The study of the environment in the mining district has mastered the important ecological value. It was found that the chemi- cal composition of the investigated types of snow mountain landscape is hydro-calcium with low sulfate con- tent. The dominant influence on the formation of the chemical composition of snow cover have salts of conti- nental origin, mainly carbon compounds. The total density of the receipt of soluble and insoluble forms of the components in the snowpack increases regularly with changes in altitude - in the transition from mountain taiga to mountain-tundra territories. There is a significant prevalence of receipt with snow cover forms of soluble components in the landscape. Distribution of trace elements in the snowpack is not subject to high- altitude zoning. The maximum content of F, Sr, and heavy metals (Mn, Cu) in snow cover is observed in the landscapes of mountain tundra and due to positive vertical gradient of water stock in the snow and located in landscapes of mountain woodlands and mountain tundra ore bodies and endogenous halos of hydrothermal Au-U deposits.