In pursuit of riches and energy over the last 5,000 years, humans have released into the environment 385,000 tons of mercury, the source of numerous health concerns, according to a new study that challenges the idea that releases of the metal are on the decline.
That is a conclusion of a study published in the last issue of the ACS journal
Environmental Science & Technology for this year.
Mercury sample from the Dennis s.k collection
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David Streets and colleagues explain that humans put mercury into the
atmosphere by burning fossil fuels and through mining and industrial
processes. Mercury is present in coal and the ores used to extract copper, gold
and silver. Much information exists about recent releases of mercury,
but there is little information on releases in the past. To find out how
much impact people have had over the centuries, the scientists
reconstructed human additions of mercury to the atmosphere using
historical data and computer models.
Their research shows that mercury emissions peaked during the North
American gold and silver rushes in the late 1800s, but after a decline
in the middle of the 20th century, are quickly rising again thanks
mostly to a surge in coal use. They report that Asia has overtaken
Europe and America as the largest contributor of mercury. Recent data
suggest that mercury concentrations in the atmosphere are declining, and
this is not consistent with their conclusion of increasing emissions.
Changing atmospheric conditions may be partly responsible, but more work
is also needed to understand the fate of large amounts of mercury in
discarded products like batteries and thermometers. The researchers
predict mercury released from mining and fuel may take as many as 2,000
years to exit the environment and be reincorporated into rocks and
minerals in the Earth.
Source: Adapted from
American Chemical Society (ACS)
The original report
David G. Streets, Molly K. Devane, Zifeng Lu, Tami C. Bond, Elsie M. Sunderland, Daniel J. Jacob,
All-Time Releases of Mercury to the Atmosphere from Human Activities, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2011, 45 (24), pp 10485–10491.
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last time modified: December 20, 2011
