REGIONAL VARIATION OF SNOWPACK CHEMISTRY IN THE VICINITY OF NIKEL ANDZAPOLJARNIJ, RUSSIA, NORTHERN FINLAND AND NORWAY

The Geological Surveys of Finland and Norway, in co-operation with the Central Kola Expedition, Russia, are carrying out a major geochemical mapping project (1992-1996) of the western half of the Kola Peninsula and the adjacent areas in Norway and Finland (188 000 km(2)). A part of this project was a pilot study of the area surrounding the nickel i ndustries in Nikel and Zapoljarnij, Russia, and the iron ore mine and mill in Kirkenes, Norway, using a variety of sample media. Snowpack sa mples taken at the end of the 1991-1992 winter proved to be well suite d to characterising the industrial emissions in this area. By separate ly analysing meltwater and filter residues, water soluble and particul ate emissions can be differentiated. Results show that, for the majori ty of elements, particles govern the total deposition chemistry. Four different sources of element input can be distinguished: (1) industria l emissions, (2) sea spray, (3) geogenic dust and (4) anthropogenic du st. Multi-element analysis, using ICP-MS, ICP-AES and ion chromatograp hy, followed by regional mapping, showed that all the elements analyse d for, namely Ag, Al, As, B, Ba, Be, Bi, Ca, Cd, Cl, Co, Cr, Cu, F, Fe , K, La, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Pb, S, Sb, Sc, Se, Si, Sr, Th, Ti, Tl, U, V, Y and Zn, show unusually high concentrations in the vicinit y of the nickel industry in Russia.