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Local surface-depressed areas in an urban microrelief are geochemical traps for sediments deposited at the surface. These sediments accumulate pollutants over space and time. The aim of this study was to estimate the total amount of surface sediment in residential areas of small towns with different industrial specialisations. Snow-dirt sludge, snow, and surface sediment samples were collected in towns of the Sverdlovsk region, Russia: Alapaevsk, Kachkanar, Serov, and Verkhnyaya Pyshma. Snow and snow-dirt sludge were collected in the cold season, and surface sediment was collected in the warm season. This study was carried out in 2024. The solid matter of the samples was divided by sieving into particle size fractions: dust (2), but differed significantly in Kachkanar (10.8 kg/m2). The contribution of the dust fraction to the total amount of sediment was estimated to be 10–20% in the cities. The total amount of surface deposited sediments in the residential areas of the small towns was 1.6 × 107 t in Alapaevsk, 5.9 × 107 t in Kachkanar, 1.7 × 107 t in Serov, and 1.3 × 107 t in Verkhnyaya Pyshma. The values obtained for the total amount of surface sediments characterise the contemporary sedimentation processes in residential areas and the environmental quality of small towns.

Assessment of the annual radon concentration is often required in indoor radon surveys of territories and individual dwellings for comparison with reference levels, studying factors affecting radon accumulation in dwellings, assessment of exposure in epidemiological studies, etc. The indoor radon surveys were carried out in multistorey buildings in eight Russian cities using solid state nuclear track detectors with an exposure period of three months. For these surveys, the estimation of annual indoor radon concentration was required to compare radon levels in buildings of high- and low-energy-efficiency classes located in different cities. To develop approaches to seasonal normalization in high-rise buildings, long-term one-hour radon concentration series obtained applying radon-monitors in 20 flats were analyzed. The dependency of indoor radon concentration on the indoor–outdoor temperature difference was studied taking into account the known natural, technogenic and anthropogenic factors affecting radon levels. The developed model of seasonal variations in multistorey buildings includes winter, summer, and demi-season periods, which differ both in ventilation intensity and dependency of radon concentration on the temperature difference. The developed model allows to estimate annual radon concentration taking into account the actual distribution of outdoor temperatures during the exposure of the track detectors.

In the current paper, the analysis of heavy mineral concentrate (Schlich analysis) was used to study the particles of technogenic origin in the samples of urban surface-deposited sediments (USDS). The USDS samples were collected in the residential areas of 10 Russian cities located in different economic, climatic, and geological zones: Ufa, Perm, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk, Nizhny Tagil, Magnitogorsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Murmansk, and Ekaterinburg. The number of technogenic particles was determined in the coarse particle size fractions of 0.1–0.25 and 0.25–1 mm. The types of technogenic particle were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The amount of technogenic material differed from city to city; the fraction of technogenic particles in the samples varied in the range from 0.01 to 0.43 with an average value of 0.18. The technogenic particles in USDS samples were represented by lithoid and granulated slag, iron and silicate microspheres, fragments of brick, paint, glass, plaster, and other household waste. Various types of technogenic particle differed in morphological characteristics as well as in chemical composition. The novelty and significance of the study comprises the following: it has been shown that technogenic particles are contained in a significant part of the USDS; the quantitative indicators of the accumulation of technogenic particles in the urban landscape have been determined; the contributions of various types of particles to the total amount of technogenic material were estimated for the urban landscape; the trends in the transformation of typomorphic elemental associations in the urban sediments associated with the material of technogenic origin were demonstrated; and the alteration trends in the USDS microelemental content were revealed, taking into account the impurities in the composition of technogenic particles.

Background: Sediment deposition in the urban environment affects aesthetic, economic, and other aspects of city life, and through re-suspension of dust, may pose serious risks to human health. Proper environmental management requires further understanding of natural and anthropogenic factors influencing the sedimentation processes in urbanized catchments. To fill the gaps in the knowledge about the relationship between the urban landscape and sedimentation, field landscape surveys were conducted in the residential areas of the Russian cities of Ekaterinburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk, and Murmansk. Methods: In each city, six elementary urban residential landscapes were chosen in blocks of multi-story apartment buildings typical for Russian cities. The method of landscape survey involved delineating functional segments within the elementary landscapes and describing each segment according to the developed procedure during a field survey. Results: The complexity of sedimentation processes in the urban environment was demonstrated. The following main groups of factors have significant impacts on sediment formation and transport in residential areas in Russian cities: low adaptation of infrastructure to a high density of automobiles, poor municipal services, and bad urban environmental management in the course of construction and earthworks. Conclusion: A high sediment formation potential was found for a considerable portion of residential areas.