Natural and anthropogenic mechanisms of the elemental composition formation of the waters in the transboundary Kyrgyzstan-Kazakhstan River Karabalta, Central Asia
Severinenko M.A. Djenbaev B.M. Lennik S.G. Zheltov D.A. Zholboldiev B. Suzdaltseva T.V. Bedelbekova K.A.
September 2025Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Environmental Earth Sciences
2025#84Issue 18
The work draws attention to the problem of contamination of surface waters of the transboundary Karabalta river basin with molybdenum (Mo), uranium (U), lithium (Li) and other hazardous elements. Two areas of surface water contamination were identified, which, based on the total content of hazardous elements, fall into the “seriously affected” category and may have a negative impact on the quality of irrigation water. In the water bodies located closest to the tailing pool of the Kara-Balta plant, concentration of Mo was revealed at the level 540.95 µg/L. In the Karabala River bed, in direct vicinity with the state border, excess amounts of U (29.40–59.01 µg/L) and Li (28.80–59.20 µg/L) enter surface waters. The hazardous elements most likely present in the river waters due the release of contaminated groundwater.
Contamination , Hazardous elements , Karabalta river , Metallic index (MI) , Transboundary basin
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Center for Integrated Environmental Research, The Institute of Nuclear Physics, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Institute of Biology of the National Academy of Science of the Kyrgyz Republic, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Center for Integrated Environmental Research
Institute of Biology of the National Academy of Science of the Kyrgyz Republic
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