Insights into Particle-Bound Metal(loid)s in Winter Snow Cover: Geochemical Monitoring of the Korkinsky Coal Mine Area, South Ural Region, Russia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to the Sustainability journal. Generally, the manuscript fits into the scope of the journal, and the structure respects Scientific Best Practice. The manuscript is generally interesting but due to the writing style it is exhausting to read, moreover the methodology could be presented in a more illustrative way. Furthermore, the figures need revision as most of them are blury. In the literature review, it is important that the scientific novelty of the work is established through a critical analysis of related literature. How does this work contribute towards the gaps identified? How does it improve upon previous work? It is recommended that a short discussion of the novel contribution of each reference cited be provided to give readers a better understanding of their relevance.
Also the methodology section should be upgraded. I strongly recommend to include a flow chart illustrating the steps of the methodology. The results section is comprehensive and presented in a clear and scientific way that I appreciate. The discussion is quite long. Generally speaking, this is ok but exhausting to read. For that reason I recommend to split the discussion in more subsections. Even better would be to split Results
and Discussion.

In the conclusions, in addition to summarising the actions taken and results, please strengthen the explanation of their significance. It is recommended to use quantitative reasoning comparing with appropriate benchmarks, especially those stemming from previous work.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear Authors,

 

The manuscript is devoted to the highly relevant problem of studying the content of metals (metalloids) in  suspended and dissolved  forms in the snow cover. Geochemical monitoring was carried out in the Korkinsky coal mine area in the South Urals. The manuscript is well written and structured.

 

Some improvements are recommended.

 

1. Add a discussion of the histogram shown in Figure 2.
2. Improve the readability of Figures 5 and 6.
3. It is highly advisable to add to the conclusion section a qualitative assessment of the impact on the environment and local communities of pollutant emissions, as well as recommendations for mitigating such impacts.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Thank you for providing the revised verson. My comments have been considered.