CLASSIFICATION OF MILITARY IMPACT ON SOIL ECOSYSTEM: FACTORS, CONSEQUENSES, INDICATORS

Abstract

The objective of the study is the theoretical development of the classification of military factors affected the soil ecosystem, and identification of leading factors. According to the scale of manifestation and nature of the impact on the soil ecosystem, environmental military factors were combined into 5 groups: landscape, physical, physicochemical, chemical and biological. This study first identified a group of landscape impact factors, which includes: landscape change; fragmentation of landscape and soil cover; linear and planar water and wind erosion of soil, landslides and subsidence; landscape deformation including soil cover due to shelling; littering of landscapes and soil surface contamination as a result of military operations; prolonged flooding/submergence of territories. For each environmental military factor, the environmental consequences of the action and detection indicators are provided, and for some, analysis methods are elucidated. It has been demonstrated that the environmental factors of military impact on the soil ecosystem have been studied with varying degrees of detail, while in most cases there is a simultaneous complex impact of different environmental factors on the soil, the synergistic effect of which has been practically not studied. It was concluded that the impact on the soil of a number of physical factors - acoustic, light, electromagnetic, as well as some chemical factors, in particular, soil contamination with optical fiber, has not been investigated. Indicators of a clear causal relationship between military actions and environmental consequences have been identified. In particular, such an indicator may be a visual comparative assessment of clearly dated satellite images before and after the disturbance of landscapes due to military actions. At the same time, GIS tools allow to determine the areas of violations, classify them, etc. Such studies are relevant for establishing the areas of destroyed/transformed landscapes, the development of erosion processes, soil compaction, etc. In addition, radiocarbon analysis of wood, when 14C provides a clear time mark of the fire, can be an indicator of a clear causal connection between military actions and forest fires in combination with a visual comparison of clearly dated satellite images. Organic explosives of the nitroaromatic series and their metabolites TNT, 2ADNT, 4ADNT, RDX, HMX can serve as evidence of a clear causal relationship between chemical contamination of soils and military operations. These compounds have not been studied sufficiently in Ukraine. Calculations have shown that, according to a minimum estimate, during the full-scale war between russia and Ukraine, ammunition containing explosives was used: TNT – 31.5 thousand tons, RDX – 159.2 thousand tons, Al – 56.5 thousand tons, the residues and metabolites of which entered the environment of Ukraine. Establishing a clear cause-and-effect relationship between chemical contamination of soils with heavy metals in the combat zone in Ukraine is significantly difficult due to the high pre-war background of these metals in the soils of industrial areas - the Azov region, Donbass, Kryvbas, etc. The general conclusion is that establishing a clear causal relationship between military actions and environmental consequences in Ukraine requires special deep research.