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

Shotyk, William; Cheburkin, A.; Appleby, P. G.; Fankhauser, A.; Kramers, Jan D.

doi:10.1016/s0012-821x(96)00197-5

Cited by 264 publications

(140 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The lake is situated at the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. It is a permanent freshwater lake, covering an area of approximately 230 km 2 and with an average water depth of 2.8 m. Liangzhi Lake is one of the many lakes within the Jianghan Plain. Thousands of years ago, the Jianghan Plain was a huge area of marshland known as the Yunmengze (Yunmeng marsh).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seven Thousand Years of Records on the Mining and Utilization of Metals from Lake Sediments in Central China

Lee

Zhang

et al. 2008

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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A 268 cm section of sediment core from Liangzhi Lake in Hubei province in central China was used to assess the use and accumulation of metals in the lake in the past 7,000 years. The concentrations of trace metals, including Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn, and major elements, Ca, Fe, and Mg, in a 14 C-dated segment of sediment core were analyzed. Historical trends on the input of metals to Liangzhi Lake from around 5000 BC to the present were recorded in the sediments, representing about 7,000 years of history on the mining and utilization of metals in central China. The concentrations of Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn increased gradually from about 3000 ( 328 BC, indicating the start of the Bronze Age in ancient China. During the period 467 ( 257 to 215 ( 221 AD, there was a rapid increase in the concentrations of these metals in the sediments, indicating enormous inputs of these metals at that time. This era corresponded to China's Warring States Period (475-221 BC) and the early Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), during which copper and lead were extensively used in making bronze articles such as vessels, tools, and weapons. From 1880 ( 35 AD to the early 1900s, there was also a significant increase in the concentrations of metals such as Cu, Ni, and Pb, which probably reflected the metal emissions and utilization during the early period of industrial development and weapon manufacture during the wars in China. The Pb isotopic analysis showed that the surface and subsurface sediments had lower 206 Pb/ 207 Pb and 208 Pb/ 207 Pb ratios than the deeper layers, reflecting the additional input of Pb from mining activities that took place during the Bronze Age era and in modern times. This study provides direct evidence of the environmental impact of the mining and utilization of metals in the last 7,000 years in one of the important regions of Chinese civilization.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seven Thousand Years of Records on the Mining and Utilization of Metals from Lake Sediments in Central China

Lee

Zhang

et al. 2008

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…This is particularly the case for antimony, where measurements in peat cores from ombrotrophic bogs in Switzerland, Scotland and the Faroe Islands have revealed atmospheric antimony contamination since Roman times. [12][13][14][15][16] Nevertheless, it should be still possible, and useful, to establish current background concentration values for 'non-polluted' sites linked to characteristics such as water hardness or lithogenic origin. This can be achieved through careful classification and evaluation of published data (currently lacking for antimony in soils and the atmosphere) and by performing new measurements in appropriately selected systems.…”

Section: Establishment Of Background Concentration Levelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antimony in the environment: knowns and unknowns

2009

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Environmental context. Antimony first attracted public attention in the mid-1990s amid claims that it was involved in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. A substantial number of papers have now been published on the element and its behaviour in the natural environment. However, many key aspects of the environmental chemistry of antimony remain poorly understood. These include critical areas such as its ecotoxicology, its global cycling through different environmental compartments, and what chemical form it takes in different environments. More focussed research would help the situation. The present review highlights several areas of environmental antimony chemistry that urgently need to be addressed.Abstract. The objective of the present article is to present a critical overview of issues related to the current state of knowledge on the behaviour of antimony in the environment. It makes no attempt to systematically review all published data. However, it does provide a list of the main published reviews on antimony and identifies subjects where systematic reviews are needed. Areas where our knowledge is strong -and the corresponding gaps -in subjects ranging from total concentrations and speciation in the various environmental compartments, to ecotoxicity, to cycling between compartments, are discussed, along with the underlying research. Determining total antimony no longer poses a problem for most environmental samples but speciation measurements remain challenging throughout the process, from sampling to analysis. This means that the analytical tools still need to be improved but experience shows that, to be useful in practice, this should be directly driven by the requirements of laboratory and field measurements. Many different issues can be identified where further research is required, both in the laboratory and in the field, the most urgently needed studies probably being: (i) long-term spatial and temporal studies in the different environmental compartments in order to collect the data needed to establish a global biogeochemical cycle; (ii) laboratory studies of antimony interactions with potential natural binders; (iii) reliable ecotoxicological studies. Montserrat Filella is a chemist and teaches Environmental Chemistry at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Her main research interests focus on the understanding of the physicochemical processes regulating the behaviour of chemical components in environmental and biological compartments, mainly by combining computer modelling with field and laboratory measurements. The three main axes of her research concern the study of: colloids in natural waters, natural organic matter (quantification and interaction with trace elements) and Group 15 elements. She is also interested in other topics

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“…A description of the system and its application to metal analysis in peat is given elsewhere [23]. Sr, Ti, Fe and Mn were determined directly in the peat, whereas the concentration of Pb was below the detection limit of the EMMA, which was 0.4 Wg/g.…”

Section: Analysis Of Pb Ti Fe Mn Ca Sr and Ash Contentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevated mercury accumulation in a peat bog of the Magellanic Moorlands, Chile (53°S) – an anthropogenic signal from the Southern Hemisphere

Biester

Kilian

Franzen

et al. 2002

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

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Increasing mercury deposition rates in the Northern Hemisphere recorded in natural archives such as peat bogs or lake sediments have been documented in numerous studies. However, data on atmospheric Hg deposition in the Southern Hemisphere dating back to pre-industrial times are rare. Here, we provide a continuous record of atmospheric Hg deposition in the Southern Hemisphere recorded by an ombrotrophic peat bog of the Magellanic Moorlands, Chile (53 ‡S), extending back 3000 yr. Pre-industrial mercury accumulation rates range between 2.5 and 3.9 Wg/m 2 /yr. In the past 100 yr, Hg accumulation rates increased 18-fold from about 3 Wg/m 2 /yr to a maximum of 62.5 Wg/m 2 /yr. If Hg accumulation rates were normalized to peat accumulation rates, maximum rates were 7.9 Wg/m 2 / yr, which is only 2.5 times the pre-industrial rates. Thus, Hg accumulation rates normalized to peat accumulation rates are more comparable to the three-fold net increase in atmospheric Hg concentrations estimated for the same period. We suggest that the increase in Hg accumulation rates in the Magellanic Moorlands within the past 100 yr is at least partly attributed to global dispersion of Hg derived from anthropogenic sources in the Northern Hemisphere. The finding that no increase of atmospheric deposition of Pb could be observed in the bog indicates the extraordinary long-range transport and ubiquitous dispersion of anthropogenic derived gaseous Hg compared to other metals. ß

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

Cited by 264 publications

References 22 publications

Seven Thousand Years of Records on the Mining and Utilization of Metals from Lake Sediments in Central China

Seven Thousand Years of Records on the Mining and Utilization of Metals from Lake Sediments in Central China

Antimony in the environment: knowns and unknowns

Elevated mercury accumulation in a peat bog of the Magellanic Moorlands, Chile (53°S) – an anthropogenic signal from the Southern Hemisphere

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