Two thousand years of atmospheric arsenic, antimony, and lead deposition recorded in an ombrotrophic peat bog profile, Jura Mountains, Switzerland

doi:10.1016/S0012-821X(96)00197-5

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

Volume 145, Issues 1–4, December 1996, Pages E1-E7

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0012-821X(96)00197-5 Get rights and content

Abstract

A peat core from a Swiss bog reveals significant enrichments of As, Sb and Pb extending back to Roman times, indicating that the anthropogenic fluxes of these metals have exceeded the natural fluxes for more than 2000 years. The isotopic composition of Pb provides no evidence of vertical downward Pb migration, suggesting that the bog has faithfully preserved the historical record of atmospheric Pb deposition. Age dating using²¹⁰Pb (verified independently using pollen markers) provides the chronology of changing metal concentrations during the past 150 years. Present day enrichment factors (relative to the metal/Sc ratios of typical crustal rocks) are of the order of 20 times (As), 70 (Sb), and 130 (Pb). Given the potential toxicity of As and Sb, these new findings suggest that the environmental significance of these, and perhaps other less common trace elements, deserve more attention.

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Two thousand years of atmospheric arsenic, antimony, and lead deposition recorded in an ombrotrophic peat bog profile, Jura Mountains, Switzerland

Abstract

Environ. Rev.

Water Air Soil Pollut.

Schriftreihe Umweltschutz Nr. 76

Environ. Sci. Technol.

La Geochemie

The environmental crisis: quantifying geosphere interactions

Science

Quantitative assessment of worldwide contamination of air, water and soils by trace elements

Nature

Heavy metal pollution poisoning the biosphere?

Environment

Heavy metal pollution poisoning the biosphere?

Environment

A history of global metal pollution

Science

Greenland ice evidence of hemispheric lead pollution two millennia ago by Greek and Roman civilizations

Science

History of ancient copper smelting pollution during Roman and Medieval times recorded in Greenland ice

Science

Historical reconstruction of the earth's past atmospheric environment from Greenland and Antarctic snow and ice cores

Environ. Rev.

Post-Industrial Revolution changes in large-scale atmospheric pollution of the northern hemisphere by heavy metals as documented in central Greenland snow and ice

J. Geophys. Res.

Review of the inorganic geochemistry of peats and peatland waters

Earth Sci. Rev.