| Abstract
| - Regional geochemical mapping of 188 000 km2 in theEuropean Arctic demonstrates that long-range atmospherictransport of heavy metal pollution from industrial emitterson the Kola Peninsula (nickel smelters, roasting plant,and refinery at Nikel, Zapoljarnij, and Monchegorsk, Russia)currently does not seem to present a major environmentalthreat on a regional scale, with the majority of heavymetal emissions being deposited as particulates near thesources. Furthermore, no regional impact of acid raincan, as yet, be observed in the distributions of pH, alkalinity,and sulfur in humus, mineral soils, or lake water. Large-scale natural phenomena (e.g., displacement of protons fromthe organic soil layer by input of marine cations) appearto be more important for the regional distribution of pH inhumus and surface waters than input of sulfur (acidrain). The importance of documenting and understandingthe regional significance and scale of geochemical processesbefore initiating environmental monitoring or detailedinvestigations on a very local (e.g., catchment) scale isunderlined by these results. Emission of basic particles fromindustry seems to counteract to a large extent environmentalacidification, and this should be taken into accountwhen devising emission control procedures.
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