Study of the Anthropogenic Impact on the Change of Geoecological Conditions of the Khojahasan Lake, Azerbaijan
- 1 — Ph.D. Head of Department Institute of Geology and Geophysics of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences
- 2 — Ph.D., Dr.Sci. Head of Department Institute of Geology and Geophysics of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences
- 3 — Ph.D. Leading Researcher Institute of Physics of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences
Abstract
The paper considers the results of geoecological and geophysical studies conducted in the Khojahasan Lake basin in the Western part of Baku. The main purpose of the work was to study the anthropogenic impact on geoecological conditions of the lake. To assess the development of exogenous geological processes in the coastal zone of the lake and their impact on the environment, geophysical studies were carried out by the vertical electric sounding (VES). From 1990 to 2014, the physical and chemical characteristics of water and sediments were studied in a representative section of the lake. Metal concentrations, including such toxic elements as Cu, Zn, Cd, Sr, Ba, Pb, Cr, and Ni, were determined in the trace element composition of bottom sediments. It was revealed that since the mid-XIX century and especially since the second half of the XX century the high rate of population growth and urbanization in the territory of the Absheron Peninsula (in the Republic of Azerbaijan the name Apsheron was changed to Absheron) led to intensive use of natural resources and increased anthropogenic load on the environment. Technogenesis actively violates the natural cycle of matter and energy in lakes (limnogenesis), along with other natu- ral media, as lake basins are located in lowlands and often accumulate industrial, municipal, agricultural, and other discharges. Pollutants accumulated in the lake basin affect hydrobiochemical conditions, transform quantitative and qualitative indicators of the aquatic environment and bottom sediments. Factors affecting the lake landscape are ge- netically different, unequal in the degree and nature of the impact, as well as induration.