Master
of Education, teacher of foreign languages, Bekzhigitova Z.S.
Academician Y.A. Buketov
Karaganda State University
Student of Biology
faculty, Dasayeva A.R.
Academician Y.A. Buketov
Karaganda State University
Student of Biology
faculty, Machneva E.V.
Academician Y.A. Buketov
Karaganda State University
Pollution of
the lithosphere
The
period which stems from the year 1950 and lasts till the present times is
called technological revolution. By the end of the XX century a lot of
technological novelties occurred, including the brand-new types of
communications and informational systems which gave abilities for productive
exchange of data and linked the remote areas of our planet with the developed
countries. The world is extremely changing and sometimes humankind is not able
to act appropriately.
Ecological
problems didn’t arise by themselves. The reason for them doing so is a
development of civilization in which the discrepancies between the need of
treating the nature carefully and new conditions of scientific and
technological progress are concluded. These new conditions require working out
of new treatment and new ethics. Analyzing all the modern tendencies in human
thinking we can figure out that the most important problem now is lack of
people’s interest in saving our environment. Unfortunately, this kind of
deficit prevents us from solving ecological problems.
Lithosphere and its structure.
Human needs a space to exist on that planet and the space
where he lives is an upper shell of the Earth – lithosphere.
Lithosphere is a hard ground shell which is
set up of crust and upper layer of mantle. The distance between the crust and a
ground surface hesitates from 5 to 70 km and the mantle’s depth is almost 2900
km. The core is located 6371 km deeper.
Dry land occupies 29,2 %
of the Earth’s surface. Upper layer of lithosphere is called soil. Soil is one
of the most important natural substances and parts of the biosphere because it
influences most processes which occur in it.
Soil is a fundamental source of nutrition, it provides
up to 95-97 % of it to the world’s population. The total area of the world’s
ground resources is 129 million square km or almost 86,5 % of dry land.
Soil polluters.
At present times
lithosphere is being polluted with different liquid and solid substances and
waste products. It is known that an average of 1 ton of wastes proceeds from a
single person every year. More than 50 kg of these wastes are polymeric and
indecomposable.
Among the main polluters are:
Dwelling houses and
communal companies which are responsible for household waste and debris. All of
it is transferred to the dumps but its removing often becomes a problem.
Industrial companies.
Solid and liquid industrial
waste always contains many destructive and toxic elements which harm the plants
and living creatures. For example,
metallurgical wastes are emitting heavy metal salts into atmosphere. Industrial
engineering emits cyanides, arsenic and beryllium.
Transport.
While working, internal
combustion engine ejects nitrogen oxide, lead, hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide,
carbon black and other chemicals, which are accumulated on ground’s surface and
plants.
Agriculture.
Agricultural soil
pollution is caused by using great quantities of fertilizers. It is known that
many of them contain harmful poisons and chemicals including mercury.
Pesticide polluters.
Using pesticides in
agriculture is also destructive for soil. A normal growth of plants depends on
many physical, chemical and biological conditions. By entering the soil,
pesticides can break these conditions. Also, they are very resistant when in
soil, which means they can stay there for long periods of time and influence a
food chain.
Radioactive wastes.
During the nuclear
reactions, which take place in nuclear power plants, only a small part of fuel
is converted into energy while the bigger one is disembarked from the reactors
as a waste. That waste includes the elements of uranium decomposition – plutonium,
cesium and strontium. Given that the quantity of nuclear fuel needed for the
reaction is close to 180 tones, removing the waste from it turns into a big
problem.
Almost 200 000
cubic meters of averagely active nuclear waste and about 10 000 cubic
meters of highly active waste are emitted by the nuclear power plants per year.
The ways to remove a
municipal solid waste.
A municipal solid waste
(MSW) is one of the most spread reasons of soil pollution. In average, every
citizen ejects about 500 kg of MSW, including 52 kg of polymeric.
The problem of
utilization and removing the MSW is a thing of utmost importance. City dumps,
which occupy hundreds hectares of land, are emitting smudge during the process
of burning waste. Also, harmful elements are penetrating into subterranean
waters from these dumps. That’s why a lot of ways to utilize MSW are continuing
to be worked out.
Nowadays there are some
popular ways to utilize and remove MSW:
-
Accumulating on concentration
polygons;
-
Aerobic biothermal composting;
-
Incineration.
Creating non-harmful types of pesticides.
Creation of effective and ecologically harmless
pesticide costs 150 millions of dollars. High cost can be explained by
difficulty of the process, during which hundreds thousands of preparations are
tested and synthesized. Such an enormous outlay is compensated by subsequent
quality of harvest, minimized soil pollution, people’s health and prolonged
lifetime.
The ways to neutralize nuclear waste.
High-active liquid
nuclear wastes are kept within special vessels, which are several cubic meters
in volume and equipped with double walls of stainless steel and mixer. These
vessels are stated into concrete block. In order to prevent explosion caused by
circulation of hydrogen the vessel is blown through with an air, which is then
cleaned in a special filters. The content of the vessel is permanently mixed to
obstruct combination of combustible substances. Also, nuclear salts can increase the temperature in the vessel
and cause a massive blow. To avoid this vessels are provided with refrigeration
systems. Their lifetime is about 20-30 years long. By the end of that time
wastes are transferred to a new vessel. Consequently, the particular process
can last hundreds of years.
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