Seasonal snow cover can serve as an informative single-season indicator of atmospheric deposition in industrial urban areas because it accumulates airborne contaminants during the winter period. A total of 55 snow samples were collected across the urban area, and the liquid phase was analyzed for major and trace elements using instrumental elemental analysis with defined detection limits and measurement uncertainty. Descriptive statistics, background comparisons, and integrated pollution indicators were used to characterize the spatial variability and intensity of contamination. The results showed that the median concentrations of most analyzed elements did not exceed the reference limits; however, aluminum and iron exhibited elevated levels, with aluminum reaching 1.1–27 times and iron 1.0–3 times the reference values. Median concentrations included 270 μg L−1 for Al, 118 μg L−1 for Fe, 30 μg L−1 for Zn, 11.5 μg L−1 for Ni, and 7.3 μg L−1 for Pb. The obtained data indicate a heterogeneous pollution pattern across Pavlodar and suggest the combined influence of mineral dust, urban-industrial emissions, road-dust resuspension, and natural inputs on snow chemistry. Because the study is based on one winter sampling campaign, the results should be interpreted as a single-season assessment of snow-cover contamination rather than as evidence of long-term temporal stability.
Aliya et al. (Fri,) studied this question.