What is the lithosphere made of and what is it. According to scientific research, scientists were able to establish that the lithosphere consists of

The lithosphere is the outer solid shell of the Earth, including the earth's crust and the upper part of the mantle. The lithosphere includes sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks.

The lower boundary of the lithosphere is fuzzy and is determined by a decrease in the viscosity of the medium, the speed of seismic waves, and an increase in thermal conductivity. The lithosphere covers the earth's crust and the upper part of the mantle several tens of kilometers thick to the asthenosphere, in which the plasticity of rocks changes. The main methods for determining the boundary between the upper boundary of the lithosphere and the asthenosphere are magnetotelluric and seismological.

The thickness of the lithosphere under the oceans ranges from 5 to 100 km (the maximum value is at the periphery of the oceans, the minimum is under the Mid-Ocean Ridges), under the continents - 25-200 km (the maximum is under ancient platforms, the minimum is under relatively young mountain ranges, volcanic arcs ). The structure of the lithosphere under the oceans and continents has significant differences. Under the continents in the structure of the earth's crust of the lithosphere, sedimentary, granite and basalt layers are distinguished, the thickness of which as a whole reaches 80 km. Beneath the oceans, the Earth's crust has repeatedly undergone partial melting processes during the formation of the oceanic crust. Therefore, it is depleted in fusible rare compounds, lacks a granite layer, and its thickness is much less than that of the continental part of the earth's crust. The thickness of the asthenosphere (a layer of softened, pasty rocks) is about 100-150 km.

Formation of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and earth's crust

The formation occurred during the release of substances from the upper layer of the mantle of the young Earth. At present, the formation of the earth's crust continues on the ocean floor in the middle ridges, which is accompanied by the release of gases and small volumes of water. Oxygen is present in high concentrations in the composition of the modern earth's crust, followed by silicon and aluminum in percentage. Basically, the lithosphere is formed by compounds such as silicon dioxide, silicates, aluminosilicates. Crystalline substances of igneous origin took part in the formation of most of the lithosphere. They were formed during the cooling of magma that came to the surface of the Earth, which is in the bowels of the planet in a molten state.

In cold regions, the thickness of the lithosphere is the greatest, and in warm regions it is the smallest. The thickness of the lithosphere can increase with a general decrease in the heat flux density. The upper layer of the lithosphere is elastic, and the lower layer is plastic in terms of the nature of the reaction to constantly acting loads. In tectonically active areas of the lithosphere, horizons of reduced viscosity are distinguished, where seismic waves travel at a lower speed. According to scientists, according to these horizons, some layers “slip” in relation to others. This phenomenon is called stratification of the lithosphere. In the structure of the lithosphere, mobile areas (folded belts) and relatively stable areas (platforms) are distinguished. Blocks of the lithosphere (lithospheric plates) move along the relatively plastic asthenosphere, reaching sizes from 1 to 10 thousand kilometers in diameter. At present, the lithosphere is divided into seven main and a number of small plates. The boundaries separating the plates from each other are the zones of maximum volcanic and seismic activity.

The lithosphere is the stone shell of the Earth. From the Greek "lithos" - a stone and "sphere" - a ball

The lithosphere is the outer solid shell of the Earth, which includes the entire earth's crust with part of the Earth's upper mantle and consists of sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks. The lower boundary of the lithosphere is fuzzy and is determined by a sharp decrease in rock viscosity, a change in the propagation velocity of seismic waves, and an increase in the electrical conductivity of rocks. The thickness of the lithosphere on the continents and under the oceans varies and averages 25 - 200 and 5 - 100 km, respectively.

Consider in general terms the geological structure of the Earth. The third planet farthest from the Sun - the Earth has a radius of 6370 km, an average density of 5.5 g / cm3 and consists of three shells - bark, robes and i. The mantle and core are divided into inner and outer parts.

The Earth's crust is a thin upper shell of the Earth, which has a thickness of 40-80 km on the continents, 5-10 km under the oceans and makes up only about 1% of the Earth's mass. Eight elements - oxygen, silicon, hydrogen, aluminum, iron, magnesium, calcium, sodium - form 99.5% of the earth's crust.

According to scientific research, scientists were able to establish that the lithosphere consists of:

• Oxygen - 49%;
• Silicon - 26%;
• Aluminum - 7%;
• Iron - 5%;
• Calcium - 4%
• The composition of the lithosphere includes many minerals, the most common are feldspar and quartz.

On the continents, the crust is three-layered: sedimentary rocks cover granitic rocks, and granitic rocks lie on basalt rocks. Under the oceans, the crust is "oceanic", two-layered; sedimentary rocks lie simply on basalts, there is no granite layer. There is also a transitional type of the earth's crust (island-arc zones on the outskirts of the oceans and some areas on the continents, such as the Black Sea).

The earth's crust is thickest in mountainous regions.(under the Himalayas - over 75 km), the middle one - in the areas of the platforms (under the West Siberian lowland - 35-40, within the boundaries of the Russian platform - 30-35), and the smallest - in the central regions of the oceans (5-7 km). The predominant part of the earth's surface is the plains of the continents and the ocean floor.

The continents are surrounded by a shelf - a shallow-water strip up to 200 g deep and an average width of about 80 km, which, after a sharp steep bend of the bottom, passes into the continental slope (the slope varies from 15-17 to 20-30 °). The slopes gradually level off and turn into abyssal plains (depths 3.7-6.0 km). The greatest depths (9-11 km) have oceanic trenches, the vast majority of which are located on the northern and western margins of the Pacific Ocean.

The main part of the lithosphere consists of igneous igneous rocks (95%), among which granites and granitoids predominate on the continents, and basalts in the oceans.

Blocks of the lithosphere - lithospheric plates - move along the relatively plastic asthenosphere. The section of geology on plate tectonics is devoted to the study and description of these movements.

To designate the outer shell of the lithosphere, the now obsolete term sial was used, which comes from the name of the main elements of rocks Si (lat. Silicium - silicon) and Al (lat. Aluminum - aluminum).

Lithospheric plates

It is worth noting that the largest tectonic plates are very clearly visible on the map and they are:

• Pacific- the largest plate of the planet, along the boundaries of which constant collisions of tectonic plates occur and faults form - this is the reason for its constant decrease;
• Eurasian- covers almost the entire territory of Eurasia (except Hindustan and the Arabian Peninsula) and contains the largest part of the continental crust;
• Indo-Australian- It includes the Australian continent and the Indian subcontinent. Due to constant collisions with the Eurasian plate, it is in the process of breaking;
• South American- consists of the South American mainland and part of the Atlantic Ocean;
• North American- consists of the North American continent, part of northeastern Siberia, the northwestern part of the Atlantic and half of the Arctic Oceans;
• African- consists of the African continent and the oceanic crust of the Atlantic and Indian oceans. It is interesting that the plates adjacent to it move in the opposite direction from it, therefore the largest fault of our planet is located here;
• Antarctic Plate- consists of the mainland Antarctica and the nearby oceanic crust. Due to the fact that the plate is surrounded by mid-ocean ridges, the rest of the continents are constantly moving away from it.

Movement of tectonic plates in the lithosphere

Lithospheric plates, connecting and separating, change their outlines all the time. This enables scientists to put forward the theory that about 200 million years ago the lithosphere had only Pangea - a single continent, which subsequently split into parts, which began to gradually move away from each other at a very low speed (an average of about seven centimeters per year ).

It is interesting! There is an assumption that due to the movement of the lithosphere, in 250 million years a new continent will form on our planet due to the union of moving continents.

When there is a collision of the oceanic and continental plates, the edge of the oceanic crust sinks under the continental one, while on the other side of the oceanic plate its boundary diverges from the plate adjacent to it. The boundary along which the movement of the lithospheres occurs is called the subduction zone, where the upper and plunging edges of the plate are distinguished. It is interesting that the plate, plunging into the mantle, begins to melt when the upper part of the earth's crust is squeezed, as a result of which mountains are formed, and if magma also breaks out, then volcanoes.

In places where tectonic plates come into contact with each other, there are zones of maximum volcanic and seismic activity: during the movement and collision of the lithosphere, the earth's crust collapses, and when they diverge, faults and depressions form (the lithosphere and the Earth's relief are connected to each other). This is the reason why the largest landforms of the Earth are located along the edges of the tectonic plates - mountain ranges with active volcanoes and deep-sea trenches.

Problems of the lithosphere

The intensive development of industry has led to the fact that man and the lithosphere have recently become extremely difficult to get along with each other: pollution of the lithosphere is acquiring catastrophic proportions. This happened due to the increase in industrial waste in combination with household waste and fertilizers and pesticides used in agriculture, which negatively affects the chemical composition of the soil and living organisms. Scientists have calculated that about one ton of garbage falls per person per year, including 50 kg of hardly decomposable waste.

Today, pollution of the lithosphere has become an urgent problem, since nature is not able to cope with it on its own: the self-purification of the earth's crust occurs very slowly, and therefore harmful substances gradually accumulate and eventually negatively affect the main culprit of the problem - man.

The lithosphere is called the outer solid relatively strong shell of the Earth. In the structure of the lithosphere, mobile areas (folded belts) and relatively stable platforms are distinguished.

The thickness of the lithosphere varies from 5 to 200 km. Under the continents, the thickness of the lithosphere varies from 25 km under young mountains, volcanic arcs and continental rift zones to 200 km or more under the shields of ancient platforms. Under the oceans, the lithosphere is thinner and reaches a minimum mark of 5 km under the mid-ocean ridges; on the periphery of the ocean, gradually thickening, it reaches 100 km thickness. The lithosphere reaches its greatest thickness in the least heated regions, and the least in the hottest regions.

According to the reaction to long-acting loads in the lithosphere, it is customary to distinguish the upper elastic and lower plastic layers. Also, at different levels in tectonically active areas of the lithosphere, horizons of relatively low viscosity are traced, which are characterized by low seismic wave velocities. Geologists do not exclude the possibility of some layers slipping along these horizons relative to others. This phenomenon is called the layering of the lithosphere.

The largest elements of the lithosphere are lithospheric plates with a diameter of 1–10 thousand km. Currently, the lithosphere is divided into seven main and several small plates. The boundaries between the plates are drawn along the zones of the greatest seismic and volcanic activity.

The boundaries of the lithosphere.

The upper part of the lithosphere borders on the atmosphere and hydrosphere. The atmosphere, hydrosphere and the upper layer of the lithosphere are in a strong relationship and partially penetrate each other.

The lower boundary of the lithosphere is located above the asthenosphere - a layer of reduced hardness, strength and viscosity in the upper mantle of the Earth. The boundary between the lithosphere and the asthenosphere is not sharp - the transition of the lithosphere into the asthenosphere is characterized by a decrease in viscosity, a change in the velocity of seismic waves, and an increase in electrical conductivity. All these changes occur due to an increase in temperature and partial melting of the substance. Hence the main methods for determining the lower boundary of the lithosphere - seismological and magnetotelluric.

At present, in the structure of the lithosphere, it is customary to distinguish the earth's crust and the rigid upper part of the mantle. The layers of the lithosphere are separated from each other by the Mohorovich boundary.

The earth's crust is part of the lithosphere, the uppermost of the solid shells of the earth. The share of the earth's crust accounts for 1% of the total mass of the Earth. The structure of the earth's crust differs on the continents and under the oceans, as well as in transitional areas.

The continental crust has a thickness of 35-45 km, in mountainous areas up to 80 km. For example, under the Himalayas - over 75 km, under the West Siberian lowland - 35-40 km, under the Russian platform - 30-35 km.

The continental crust is divided into layers:

The sedimentary layer is the layer that covers the upper part of the continental crust. Consists of sedimentary and volcanic rocks. In some places (mainly on the shields of ancient platforms), the sedimentary layer is absent.

Granite layer is a conventional name for a layer where the propagation velocity of longitudinal seismic waves does not exceed 6.4 km/sec. It consists of granites and gneisses - metamorphic rocks, the main minerals of which are plagioclase, quartz and potassium feldspar.

The basalt layer is a conventional name for the layer where the propagation velocity of longitudinal seismic waves is in the range of 6.4 - 7.6 km/sec. It is composed of basalts, gabbro (igneous intrusive rock of the basic composition) and very strongly metamorphosed sedimentary rocks.

Layers of the continental crust can be crushed, torn and displaced along the line of the gap. Granite and basalt layers are often separated by the Konrad surface, which is characterized by a sharp jump in the speed of seismic waves.

The oceanic crust is 5-10 km thick. The smallest thickness is typical for the central regions of the oceans.

The oceanic crust is divided into 3 layers:

The layer of marine sediments is less than 1 km thick. In places it is completely absent.

The middle layer or "second" layer is a layer with a propagation velocity of longitudinal seismic waves from 4 to 6 km/s - a thickness of 1 to 2.5 km. It consists of serpentine and basalt, possibly with an admixture of sedimentary rocks.

The lowest layer or "oceanic" - the propagation velocity of longitudinal seismic waves is in the range of 6.4-7.0 km / s. Made from gabbro.

There is also a transitional type of the earth's crust. It is typical for island-arc zones on the margins of the oceans, as well as for some parts of the continents, for example, in the Black Sea region.

The earth's surface is mainly represented by the plains of the continents and the ocean floor. The continents are surrounded by a shelf - a shallow strip with a depth of up to 200 g and an average width of about 80 km, which, after a sharp abrupt bend of the bottom, turns into a continental slope (the slope varies from 15-17 to 20-30 °). The slopes gradually level off and turn into abyssal plains (depths 3.7-6.0 km). The greatest depths (9-11 km) have oceanic trenches located mainly in the northern and western parts of the Pacific Ocean.

Upper mantle

The upper mantle is the lower part of the lithosphere, located under the earth's crust. Another name for the upper mantle is the substratum.

The propagation velocity of longitudinal seismic waves is about 8 km/sec.

The lower boundary of the upper mantle passes at a depth of 900 km (when the mantle is divided into upper and lower) or at a depth of 400 km (when it is divided into upper, middle, and lower).

There is no unequivocal answer regarding the composition of the upper mantle. Some researchers, based on the study of xenoliths, believe that the upper mantle has an olivine-pyroxene composition. Others believe that the material of the upper mantle is represented by garnet peridotites with an admixture in the upper part of the eclogite.

The upper mantle is not uniform in composition and structure. In it, zones of low seismic wave velocities are observed, and differences in the structure under different tectonic zones are also observed.

Chemical composition of the lithosphere.

The chemical compounds that make up the elements of the earth's crust are called minerals. Rocks are formed from minerals.

The main types of rocks:

igneous;

Sedimentary;

Metamorphic.

The composition of the lithosphere is dominated mainly by igneous rocks. They account for about 95% of the total substance of the lithosphere.

The composition of the lithosphere on the continents and under the oceans differs significantly.

The lithosphere on the continents consists of three layers:

Sedimentary rocks;

Granite rocks;

Basalt.

The lithosphere under the oceans is two-layered:

Sedimentary rocks;

Basalt rocks.

The chemical composition of the lithosphere is mainly represented by only eight elements. These are oxygen, silicon, hydrogen, aluminum, iron, magnesium, calcium and sodium. These elements account for about 99.5% of the earth's crust.

Pollution of the lithosphere.

The lithosphere is polluted by liquid and solid pollutants and wastes. It has been established that annually one ton of waste is generated per inhabitant of the Earth, including more than 50 kg of polymeric, hardly decomposable waste.

Sources of soil pollution can be classified as follows.

Residential buildings and public utilities. The composition of pollutants in this category of sources is dominated by household waste, food waste, construction waste, waste from heating systems, worn-out household items, etc. All this is collected and taken to landfills. For large cities, the collection and destruction of household waste in landfills has become an intractable problem. The simple burning of garbage in city dumps is accompanied by the release of toxic substances. When burning such objects, for example, chlorine-containing polymers, highly toxic substances are formed - dioxides. Despite this, in recent years, methods have been developed for the destruction of household waste by incineration. A promising method is the burning of such debris over hot melts of metals.

Industrial enterprises. Solid and liquid industrial waste constantly contains substances that can have a toxic effect on living organisms and plants. For example, non-ferrous heavy metal salts are usually present in waste from the metallurgical industry. The engineering industry releases cyanides, arsenic and beryllium compounds into the environment; in the production of plastics and artificial fibers, wastes containing phenol, benzene, styrene are formed; in the production of synthetic rubbers, catalyst wastes, substandard polymer clots get into the soil; during the production of rubber products, dust-like ingredients, soot, which settle on the soil and plants, waste rubber-textile and rubber parts, are released into the environment, and during the operation of tires, worn-out and failed tires, autotubes and rim tapes. The storage and disposal of used tires is currently an unresolved problem, as it often causes large fires that are very difficult to extinguish. The degree of utilization of used tires does not exceed 30% of their total volume.

Transport. During the operation of internal combustion engines, nitrogen oxides, lead, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, soot and other substances are intensively released, deposited on the surface of the earth or absorbed by plants. In the latter case, these substances also enter the soil and are involved in the cycle associated with food chains.

Agriculture. Soil pollution in agriculture occurs due to the introduction of huge amounts of mineral fertilizers and pesticides. Some pesticides are known to contain mercury.

Soil contamination with heavy metals. Heavy metals are non-ferrous metals whose density is greater than that of iron. These include lead, copper, zinc, nickel, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, mercury.

A feature of heavy metals is that in small quantities, almost all of them are necessary for plants and living organisms. In the human body, heavy metals are involved in vital biochemical processes. However, exceeding the allowable amount leads to serious diseases.

Heavy metals accumulate in the soil and contribute to a gradual change in its chemical composition, disruption of the vital activity of plants and living organisms. From the soil, heavy metals can enter the body of animals and humans and cause undesirable consequences.

It has been established that mercury enters the soil with some pesticides, household waste and broken measuring instruments. For example, one fluorescent lamp contains 80 mg of mercury. The total uncontrolled releases of mercury are 4-5 thousand tons/year. The maximum permissible concentration of mercury in soil is 2.1 mg/kg. With the constant intake of mercury in the body in small quantities, the nervous system is damaged, leading to mild excitability and memory loss.

Lead is highly toxic to living organisms. Out of each ton of lead mined, up to 25 kg of it enters the environment. A huge amount of lead is released into the atmosphere together with the exhaust gases of cars when leaded gasoline is burned, since 1 liter of gasoline contains up to 0.5 g of tetraethyl lead. Pollution of soil and plants with lead along highways extends to a distance of up to 200 meters. The maximum allowable concentration of lead in soil = 32 mg/kg. Exceeding this indicator increases the likelihood of lead entering the human body through agricultural products, which can lead to damage to the central nervous system, liver, kidneys and brain. In industrial areas, the content of lead in the soil is 25-27 times higher than in agricultural areas.

Soil pollution with copper and zinc annually is 35 and 27 kg/km, respectively. An increase in the concentrations of these metals in the soil leads to a slowdown in plant growth and a decrease in crop yields.

The accumulation of cadmium in the soil is a great danger to humans. In nature, cadmium is found in soil and water, as well as in plant tissues. The World Health Organization has recommended limiting the dose of cadmium from food to the human body to 70 micrograms per day. Consuming food containing high doses of cadmium leads to skeletal deformity, reduced growth and severe pain in the lower back.

Soil pollution with pesticides. The soil is also polluted by the use of pesticides in agriculture. It is known that the normal growth of plants is determined by various physical, chemical and biological processes that occur in the soil. When released into the soil, pesticides can be included in these processes with their accumulation in plants. In addition, they remain stable in the soil for a long time, which also leads to their accumulation in food chains.

Pesticides, or pesticides, are divided into the following groups according to their purpose:

Insecticides, which are chemicals for pest control of agricultural crops (thiophos, metaphos, karbofos, chlorophos, carbamates);

Herbicides for weed control (amines, carbamates, triazines);

Fungicides, or chemicals for the control of fungal plant diseases (benzimidazoles, morpholines, dithiocarbamates, tetramethylthiuram disulfide);

Plant growth regulators;

Defoliants that cause premature aging of plant leaves. They are widely used in mechanized cotton picking to accelerate leaf fall in cotton.

Defoliants were used during the Vietnam War to denud the jungle. This allowed American aviation to detect the military bases of the Vietnamese partisans.

One of the first pesticides was the infamous DDT, diphenyldichlorotrichloroethane. It was first synthesized by the German chemist P. Müller. This drug had highly effective insecticidal properties and therefore has been successfully used against malarial mosquitoes, ticks, and lice for a long time. In 1944-1946, with the help of DDT, foci of typhus in Naples and malaria in some provinces of Italy were successfully suppressed. In the USSR, with the help of DDT, a tick carrying taiga encephalitis was destroyed. All this at one time was the reason for awarding the Nobel Prize to P. Muller. However, much later it was discovered that DDT, being highly stable in the natural environment, can accumulate in food chains and cause significant harm to the animal world. Once in the human body, DDT accumulates in the brain and acts as a nerve poison. In this case, the normal functioning of the brain may be impaired.

The use of DDT is currently prohibited, but it is believed that the amount of DDT in the biochemical cycle is currently about 1 million tons.

The need for the use of pesticides in agriculture is due to the fact that without them, the yield of crops drops sharply and is only 20-40% of what is possible with their use. It is difficult to imagine the destruction of the Colorado potato beetle on potato plantations without the use of pesticides.

Pollution of the lithosphere during the disposal of radioactive waste.

In the process of a nuclear reaction at nuclear power plants, only 0.5-1.5% of nuclear fuel is converted into thermal energy, and the rest (98.5-99.5%) is unloaded from nuclear reactors in the form of waste. These wastes are radioactive fission products of uranium - plutonium, cesium, strontium and others. Considering that the load of nuclear fuel in the reactor is 180 tons, the disposal and disposal of spent nuclear fuel is an intractable problem.

Every year in the world, about 200,000 cubic meters of electricity are generated in the production of electricity at nuclear power plants. radioactive waste with low and intermediate activity and 10,000 cubic meters. high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel.

Radioactive waste is either liquid or solid. Depending on the state of aggregation, the conditions for their burial change.

Explosive high-level liquid radioactive waste in the form of nitric acid aqueous solutions is stored in double-walled stainless steel apparatuses with a volume of up to several cubic meters and with a stirrer.

Liquid high-level radioactive waste that is not capable of explosion is stored in burial grounds, which consist of shafts and storage rooms.

Currently, one of the safest ways to eliminate the danger of radioactive radiation from solid nuclear waste is to dispose of it. Solid radioactive waste is buried in special containers in underground adits and tunnels. They are subject to special requirements during transportation to the burial place.

The problem of radioactive waste transportation is especially relevant for Russia. The fact is that the nuclear power plants built back in the USSR by our specialists and according to our technology in other countries use our nuclear fuel, and we must take away the spent waste. It turns out a very depressing picture for Russia: electricity remains for the needs of the consumer country, and radioactive waste is returned to us. Such cooperation with other countries leads to very unpleasant consequences in the long run. After all, the burial of radioactive waste is, first of all, their temporary removal, but what will happen to them in 50,100 years?

Soil pollution control.

The establishment of maximum permissible concentrations of harmful substances in the soil is currently still at the very beginning of development. MPCs have been established for about 50 harmful substances, mainly pesticides, used to protect plants from pests and diseases. However, soil is not among those media that directly affect human health, while air and water, together with pollutants, are consumed by living organisms.

The adverse effect of soil pollutants is manifested through the trophic chain. Therefore, in practice, two indicators are used to assess the degree of soil pollution:

Maximum allowable concentration in soil (MAC), mg/kg;

Permissible residual amounts (DOC), mg/kg of vegetation mass. Thus, for chlorophos MPC is 1.0 mg/kg, DOC=2.0 mg/kg. For lead MPC=32 mg/kg, DOC in meat products is 0.5 mg/kg.

Sanitary control of soil pollution in urban areas is carried out by the sanitary and epidemiological service. Under its control are also the transportation of waste, the coordination of places for storage, burial and processing.

Development of pesticides safe for the food chain.

The main danger of pesticides as soil pollutants is due to their high stability in the environment, which contributes to their accumulation in food chains.

To eliminate this shortcoming, new, environmentally friendly pesticides have been developed in recent years.

For example, the herbicide glyphosate is completely decomposed in the soil to form phosphoric acid, carbon dioxide, and water. Some pesticides are available in the form of individual optical isomers, which makes it possible to double their effectiveness.

The development of one highly effective and environmentally friendly pesticide costs $150 million. Since hundreds of thousands of drugs are synthesized for this, and only one of the most acceptable ones is chosen among them. At the same time, such costs for the development of new pesticides pay off with high crop yields, reduced soil pollution, maintaining the health of the country's population and increasing the average life expectancy of people.

The main consumers of environmentally friendly pesticides are Japan, USA, France, Germany. Despite the widespread use of pesticides, Japan has the highest life expectancy in the world - 75 years for men and 80 years for women. This is due to the fact that pesticides used in Japan do not accumulate in the soil, and after effective use for their intended purpose, they decompose into harmless substances.

In the United States, the area under crops is 1.5 times less than in the CIS countries, and the use of pesticides is 23% of world consumption. At the same time, more than 80% of food products do not contain pesticides, while 98% of rice crops, 97% of corn crops and 93% of grain crops are treated with herbicides.

Unlike the highly developed countries of the world. In the Russian Federation, the use of pesticides is approximately 4% of world consumption. Despite the low use of pesticides, life expectancy is gradually decreasing, and according to the latest data, this figure for men is only 58 years.

Methods for neutralizing liquid radioactive waste.

Liquid high-level radioactive waste is stored in stainless steel double-walled apparatuses with a volume of up to several cubic meters and with a stirrer. Such devices are installed in concrete chambers. In order to prevent an explosion of hydrogen released during storage, the apparatus is continuously blown with air, which, in turn, is cleaned of radioactive aerosols in special filters. The contents of the apparatus are constantly stirred to prevent the formation of explosive precipitation. In addition, the precipitation of radioactive salts can dramatically increase the temperature in the apparatus and cause a thermal explosion with the release of a radioactive solution. To avoid these phenomena, the devices are equipped with refrigerators. The service life of such devices is 20-30 years. Then the liquid waste is poured into new apparatuses. This process can take several hundred years.

Ways of neutralization, utilization and elimination of municipal solid waste.

One of the massive soil pollution is municipal solid waste (MSW). About 500 kg of municipal solid waste is generated per city dweller during the year, of which 52 kg is polymer.

The problem of neutralization, utilization or liquidation of MSW is still relevant today. Numerous city dumps, occupying tens and hundreds of hectares of land, are sources of acrid smoke during the burning of household waste and pollution of groundwater due to the seepage of harmful substances into groundwater. Therefore, in recent years, much attention has been paid to the development of methods for the disposal or destruction of municipal solid waste.

The approximate composition of MSW in the cities of the Russian Federation includes the following components (% wt.): food waste - 33-43; paper and cardboard - 20-30; glass -5-7; textiles 3-5; plastic - 2-5; leather and rubber - 2-4; ferrous metal - 2-3.5; tree - 1.5-3; stones - 1-3; bones - 0.5-2; non-ferrous metals - 0.5-0.8; others - 1-2.

Currently, the following methods of disposal, disposal and elimination of solid waste are known:

Warehousing at the landfill;

Aerobic biothermal composting;

Burning at special waste incineration plants.

The choice of method is determined taking into account environmental, economic, landscape, land and other factors.

Storage of solid household waste.

The main method of disposal of solid waste both abroad and in the Russian Federation is storage at landfills. To create a landfill, a land plot of 20-40 hectares with clay or heavy loamy soil is allocated. The choice of such soil is due to the following. Rain and melt waters pass through a layer of municipal solid waste several tens of meters thick, extract soluble harmful components from it and form landfill wastewater. Clay and loamy soils prevent the penetration of such wastewater into groundwater layers.

The life of the landfill is 15-20 years. The landfill should be located no closer than 500 m from a residential building and no further than 500 m from a paved road.

Aerobic biothermal composting of municipal solid waste.

The most promising is the disposal of solid waste at plants operating on the technology of aerobic biothermal composting. At the same time, solid waste is neutralized and turned into compost, which is an organic fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and trace elements. As a result of the transformation into compost, the constituent elements of MSW are involved in the natural circulation of substances in the biosphere.

In Russia, biothermal composting of MSW is carried out in Nizhny Novgorod and St. Petersburg. The productivity of such a plant reaches 1 million cubic meters. MSW per year.

Burning of municipal solid waste at incineration plants.

Among the methods of disposal of municipal solid waste, much attention is paid to their elimination by burning in special furnaces. At the same time, conventional solid waste incineration processes are accompanied by the formation of highly toxic gaseous substances, including dioxins.

The combustion of MSW in molten metals or in molten slag is considered very promising. The advantage of this method is that, due to the high temperature of such melts, the decomposition of municipal solid waste occurs very quickly and completely, and the mineral components are melted and transferred to slag.

Soil self-purification.

The soil belongs to three-phase systems, however, the physicochemical processes occurring in the soil are extremely slow, and the air and water dissolved in the soil do not have a significant accelerating effect on the course of these processes. Therefore, the self-purification of the soil, in comparison with the self-purification of the atmosphere and hydrosphere, is very slow. According to the intensity of self-purification, these components of the biosphere are arranged in the following sequence:

Atmosphere - hydrosphere - lithosphere.

As a result, harmful substances in the soil gradually accumulate, eventually becoming a threat to humans.

Self-purification of the soil can mainly occur only when contaminated with organic waste, which is subjected to biochemical oxidation by microorganisms. At the same time, heavy metals and their salts gradually accumulate in the soil and can only sink into deeper layers. However, with deep plowing of the soil, they can again be on the surface and enter the trophic chain.

Thus, the intensive development of industrial production leads to an increase in industrial waste, which, together with household waste, significantly affects the chemical composition of the soil, causing a deterioration in its quality.

The core, mantle and crust are the internal structure of the Earth. What is the lithosphere? This is the name of the outer solid inorganic shell of our planet. It includes the entire earth's crust and the upper part of the mantle.

In a simplified form, the lithosphere is the upper layer consisting of three layers. In the scientific world there is no unambiguous definition of the concept of this planetary shell. And the debate about its composition is still ongoing. But according to the available information, it is still possible to draw up basic ideas about what the lithosphere is.

Structure, composition and boundaries

Despite the fact that the lithosphere covers absolutely the entire earth's surface and the upper layer of the mantle, in weight equivalent this is expressed in only one percent of the total mass of our planet. Although the shell has small volumes, its detailed study raised a lot of questions, and not only about what the lithosphere is, but also from what material it is formed, in what state it is in different parts.

The main part of the shell is made up of solid rocks, which acquire a plastic consistency at the boundary with the mantle. In the structure of the earth's crust, stable platforms and folding areas are distinguished.

Different thicknesses and can range from 25 to 200 kilometers. On the ocean floor, it is thinner - from 5 to 100 kilometers. The Earth's lithosphere is limited by other shells: the hydrosphere (water) and the atmosphere (air).

The earth's crust is composed of three layers:

• sedimentary;
• granite;
• basalt.

Thus, if you look at what the lithosphere is in a section, it will resemble a layer cake. Its basis is basalt, and on top it is covered with a sedimentary layer. Between them, in the form of a filling, there is granite.

The sedimentary layer on the continents was formed as a result of the destruction and modification of granite and basalt. On the ocean floor, such a layer is formed as a result of the accumulation of sedimentary rocks carried by rivers from the continents.

The granite layer consists of metamorphic and igneous rocks. On the continents, it occupies an intermediate position between other layers, and at the bottom of the oceans, it is completely absent. It is believed that in the very "heart" of the planet there is basalt, consisting of igneous rocks.

The earth's crust is not a monolith, it consists of separate blocks, called which are in constant motion. They seem to float on the plastic asthenosphere.

During its existence, mankind in economic activities has constantly used the constituent parts of the lithosphere. The earth's crust contains everything that is widely used by people, and their extraction from the bowels is constantly increasing.

The soil is of great value - the preservation of the fertile layer of the lithosphere today is one of the most urgently needed solutions.

Some processes occurring within the boundaries of the shell, such as erosion, landslides, mudflows, can be caused by anthropogenic activities and pose a threat. They not only influence the formation of ecological situations in certain territories, but can also lead to global environmental cataclysms.