Ural River benthic communities response on the chemical spill

The Ural River is the second river of the North Caspian basin, on the north-west border of the Kazakhstan and Russian. The middle flow of the Ural River is limited by the dam of Iriklin water reservoirs (about 80 km up from Orsk town, Orenburg district) to the mouth of Barbastay River (about 45 km down from Ural'sk town). On 13--17 November 1991, after an industrial incident in Orsk oil refinery enterprise effluent polluted the Ural River. An assessment of the Middle flow Ural River benthic communities by oil and phenols spill response is described. The paper is based on a study of the short-term response of benthic biocenosises compared with natural transformation of the community structure before pollution