GEOCHEMICAL FEATURES OF SALT FORMATIONS OF DRINKING WATER IN SOUTHERN KAZAKHSTAN

The relevance of the work. Due to the unfavorable ecological situation in the territory of Southern Kazakhstan, there is a need to obtain data on natural and natural-anthropogenic geochemical processes occurring in the conditions of urbanization and industrial development, including uranium mining. To assess the changes in the ecological and geochemical state of the territory, the elemental composition of salt formations of drinking water was used, since this component of the ecosystem proved itself to be a reliable indicator of environmental pollution. The aim of the research was to study the features of the elemental composition of salt deposits of drinking water in the territory of Southern Kazakhstan. Methods: instrumental neutron activation analysis. Results. Chemical elements in salt formations of fresh drinking waters of Southern Kazakhstan (Kyzylorda and Turkestan regions) were analyzed. The authors identified the leading group of elements in the scale of drinking waters of the studied area – Na, Ca, Fe (structure-forming), Zn, Sr, Ba (isomorphic substitution in the structure of calcium carbonate). An inhomogeneous distribution of almost all the studied elements is observed, with the exception of Ca. The regional specificity of Southern Kazakhstan is the presence of Zn, U, Sr, Ag in anthropogenic carbonates. The increased content of U and TR is associated with the distribution of bed-infiltration types of uranium deposits with rare-earth mineralization in the Cretaceous and Paleogene horizons of the Shu-Sarysu and Syrdarya provinces. The authors identified specific elements in the salt formations of drinking water for the Turkestan region (Cs, Eu, U, Ca, Sc, Sr, Ba, Au, Co, Ag, Sb, La, Tb, Hf, Ta) and the Kyzylorda region (Zn, Sb, Yb, Ta, Na, Th, Fe, As, Cr, Sm, Hf, Co, Lu, Ce, Br, Ca, Rb, Ag, Tb, Au).