The purpose of the study is to determine the impact of hostilities on the level of contamination of agricultural lands in the Sumy region with mobile zinc compounds. The object of research was 155 soil samples taken from 6 land plots with a total area of 691.2835 hectares, which were affected by hostilities in the territory of Romensky, Sumy and Okhtyrsky districts of Sumy region. The studied fields were under the influence of intensive hostilities: they were subjected to artillery and mortar shelling; craters, traces of fires and remnants of weapons and ammunition were recorded on them. The study was conducted two years after the resumption of active economic use of the lands, which made it possible to assess the current state of soil contamination under the conditions of their cultivation and partial restoration of agroecosystems. The conducted studies have shown that the content of mobile zinc compounds in agricultural soils of Sumy region is characterized by pronounced spatial heterogeneity, caused by anthropogenic factors, in particular the consequences of hostilities. The largest foci of contamination are located in areas number 1 and number 4. This confirms the local nature of the technogenic impact associated with hostilities. The indicated areas were subjected to mortar and artillery shelling, contained craters, and ammunition residues. Site number 2 and number 5 were characterized by a weak level of contamination, sites number 3 and number 6 were characterized by low and medium levels of contamination. The results obtained justify the need for detailed contamination mapping and the implementation of differentiated approaches to soil quality management to ensure their environmentally safe use in agricultural production.
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