Nightmare in Northern Siberia: Norilsk : a very cold and contaminated city in Russia

The settlers advances in northern Siberia were related to the expansion of the Russian Tsarist Empire starting in the early seventeenth century. To a large extent, this development was driven by the fur trade. The process was followed by colonizing migrations that gradually changed the regional demographics.
The changes were accelerated because of the construction of the trans-Siberian railway which started in 1891 by a decision of Czar Alexander II and ended in 1916 shortly before the Bolshevik revolution.
The transiberian rail system allowed access to deposits of metallic minerals, gas and oil. In the 1920s and 1930s the Soviet state, which had replaced the Tsarist power, promoted the occupation of the Northern and Arctic lands for its mineral wealth.
The most important deposit was discovered in the late 19301 in the basins of the rivers Pyasina and Ienisei in the far north. Significant volumes of nickel, and to a lesser extent copper, cobalt, platinum and palladium were found. Based on this economic potential the Soviet government decided to establish a mining and industrial complex called Norilsk.

In the following years, immigration favored the new city that grew considerably. At the same time a port(Dudinka) was established on the river Ienise distant a hundred kilometers of the mining complex. Dudinka receives full or partially processed ore from Norilsk to export by river via the sea port of Murmansk in northwestern Russia.
In less than half a century, due to the economic importance of mining activities, the city of Norilsk grew to a maximum of 183,000 inhabitants in 1982. After that year there was a stagnation of the local mining industry and the city entered a period of demographic decline that has continued to the present. In the 2005 census of the population had decreased to 135,000 people.
The geographical location of Norilsk has a very harsh climate. The average January temperature is -33oC and the annual average is -10oC. There were recorded minimum temperatures of -58oC. For that reason the natural ecosystems of the region are made up of low density boreal forests (taiga septentrional) and areas of permafrost with summer treeless herbaceous vegetation (tundra).
Because the mining and industrial activity of the original ecosystems around Norilsk suffered greatly from the environmental point of view. Practically not a single tree grows within 48 kilometers from the plant and quarries. The site has been stripped of its soils and surface formations.
There are large open pits and tailings ponds covering more than 10,000 hectares and drainage has been completely modified deep degradation Pyasino nearby lake and its emissary river, the river Pyasina4. It is estimated that annually thrown into the air 4 million tons of cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, arsenic, selenium and zinc. Norilsk is the main source of acid rain emissions Russia and affects an area of ​​100,000 km2 .
From "Chroicles of the Human Adventure" (Crónnicas de la Peripecia Humana), Danilo Antón, Piriguazú Ediciones.