Ecological state of soils and waters in the mining areas of South Gobi province of Mongolia

In 2024, landscape geochemical studies were conducted in the southern regions of Mongolia in the area of coal (Tavan Tolgoi enterprise) and copper (Ouyu Tolgoi enterprise) mining. Samples of groundwater and soils were collected, chemical and analytical work was carried out. The purpose of the work is to assess the ecological state of soils and groundwater in the mining soums of Khanbogd and Tsogttsetsii of the South Gobi aimag of Mongolia. As a result of the studies, it was found that the groundwater in the copper mining area is mainly fresh, while in the coal mining area it is slightly saline. Soils are mainly sierozem-like, belong to carbonate, and sometimes to saline. Foci of groundwater and soil pollution were identified on the territory of farms located near mining enterprises. High concentrations of sodium, fluorine, magnesium, chlorine, sulfates and a number of toxic heavy metals have been found in the waters of wells and boreholes of local residents. Increased levels of nickel, copper, zinc and arsenic have been found in the soils of the same areas, exceeding sanitary and hygienic standards, sometimes by more than 20 times.