An 800-Year Record of Atmospheric As, Mo, Sn, and Sb in Central Asia in High-Altitude Ice Cores from Mt. Qomolangma (Everest), Himalayas

Hong, Sungmin; Lee, Khanghyun; Hou, Shugui; Hur, Soon Do; Ren, Jiawen; Burn, Laurie J.; Rosman, K.J.R.; Barbante, Carlo; Boutron, Claude F.

doi:10.1021/es901685u

Cited by 83 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(48 reference statements)

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“…The results illustrated that high altitude atmosphere on the southern Plateau might be more sensitive to variations in the anthropogenic emissions than that in the central Himalayas. Trace element deposition in the snowpacks at the Laohugou (LHG) and the Tanggula (TGL) glacier basins in the northern Plateau was studied by Dong et al (2015), while Kaspari et al (2009) and Hong et al (2009) respectively investigated the concentrations of trace metals in ice core from Mt. Qomolangma.…”

Section: Major and Trace Elements In Environmental Media Of The Qinghmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kaspari et al (2009) reported that atmospheric trace metal concentrations widely increased with regionally varied enrichment according to comparison of trace metal concentrations in different ice cores. Hong et al (2009) concluded that natural sources (mainly from mineral dust) dominated the atmospheric cycles of As, Mo, Sn during the 700 years prior to the 20th century and anthropogenic emissions of these elements (largely from stationary fossil fuel combustion and nonferrous metals production) contributed to the pronounced increases of both concentrations and crustal enrichment factors since the 1970s. They speculated that the increased concentrations of metals were attributed to anthropogenic emissions mainly including stationary fossil fuel combustion and nonferrous metals production.…”

Section: Major and Trace Elements In Environmental Media Of The Qinghmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inorganic pollution around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: An overview of the current observations

Duan

Lü

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the highest geographical unit in the world. Thus, it serves an important role in evaluating long-term ecologic conditions and environmental status and changes over time. This study summarizes major and trace element concentrations in biota and in water and soil. It also pays attention to gaseous pollutant and particle concentrations in air around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The degree of soil heavy metal contamination and the water heavy metal hazard index were respectively evaluated. The contamination degrees of two sampling areas around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau reached extremely high levels with soil mC d (modified degree of contamination) values exceeding 20. Surprisingly, over 54% of sampling areas showed moderate or more serious soil contamination degree (mC d N 1.5). Moreover, the hazard indexes of two important rivers were 1.56 and 7.59, reaching unacceptable level. The potential risk might be beyond our expectation. Therefore, it should be an urgent and top priority to identify and confirm possible pollution sources around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Then, it is imperative to implement feasible and effective environmental quality control strategies.

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Section: Major and Trace Elements In Environmental Media Of The Qinghmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Major and Trace Elements In Environmental Media Of The Qinghmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inorganic pollution around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: An overview of the current observations

Duan

Lü

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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“…Even in a high altitude atmosphere, the content of Mt. Everest's ice core has shown to have rising arsenic levels since the 1970s, representing a significant amount of arsenic accumulation (Hong et al, 2009). The impacts of arsenic to these media are a cause for serious concern due to their high toxicity, persistency, and the ability of long-range transportation in the environment (Ng et al, 2003, Kang et al, 2011, De Temmerman et al, 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric Arsenic Deposition in Chiayi County in Southern Taiwan

Lin

et al. 2013

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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Although arsenic contamination of underground water in southern Taiwan is well known, few studies examine atmospheric arsenic deposition in this area, which might be the major source of such pollution to the soil, water, and even underground water. This research focused on the atmospheric arsenic concentration, dry and wet depositions, and the As distribution around Chiayi County, located in the south of Taiwan. Eight sampling sites are used, both upwind and downwind of an area with heavy industrial and human activities. All samples were collected by a PS-1 high volume sampler at each site, pretreated by a digestion process, and further analyzed with an ICP-MS. The results show that the arsenic deposition flux ranged from 65.0 to 473 μg/m 2 -month in Chiayi County. This deposition flux has no significant seasonal variation, based on the multiple trend results obtained from pooling the dry and wet deposition data. The average dry deposition flux of As ranged from 34 to 161 μg/m 2 -month during the sampling year, and had the opposite trend to the wind speed. Additionally, the correlations between atmospheric arsenic concentration and PM levels were significant, supported by the low p-value (< 0.01) at a 99% confidence level. Meanwhile, the highly linear correlation between As and PM concentrations was also evaluated. The amount of precipitation was statistically correlated to the wet deposition flux (11.3-414 μg/m 2 -month with a p-value = 2 × 10 -7 and r-value = 0.9306. Furthermore, the composition of the As mass concentrations in ambient air were dominated by As (V) in both fall (66.4%) and winter (68.9%). According to the GIS spatial analysis of the As concentration in the dry season, from October to March, the As contribution of local emissions were not significant. Consequently, this study indicates that the atmospheric As around Chiayi County might be sourced from the upwind northern area, and mainly deposited through wet scavenging.

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“…Preindustrial Pb concentration increases in Greenland have been linked to Pb mining and smelting performed in the Mediterranean region during the Greek, Roman, and Medieval periods (8,12), indicating the hemispheric-scale impact of early anthropogenic activities. In contrast, ice cores recovered from midlatitudes provide evidence for anthropogenic aerosol emissions from the late 19th century in the European Alps (13,14) and from the middle of the 20th century in the Himalaya (6,15). This suggests an asynchronous postindustrial impact on the atmosphere in various parts of the Northern Hemisphere.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Ice cores from the remote polar ice sheets and high-altitude glaciers receive trace elements exclusively from the atmosphere (4,5) and can therefore be used to precisely assess the possible large-scale impact of anthropogenic activities through time (6,7). In this respect, they also offer a unique, global perspective on current efforts to define the onset of the Anthropocene as defined by the International Union of Geological Sciences.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Widespread pollution of the South American atmosphere predates the industrial revolution by 240 y

Uglietti

Gabrielli

Cooke

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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In the Southern Hemisphere, evidence for preindustrial atmospheric pollution is restricted to a few geological archives of low temporal resolution that record trace element deposition originating from past mining and metallurgical operations in South America. Therefore, the timing and the spatial impact of these activities on the past atmosphere remain poorly constrained. Here we present an annually resolved ice core record (A.D. 793–1989) from the high-altitude drilling site of Quelccaya (Peru) that archives preindustrial and industrial variations in trace elements. During the precolonial period (i.e., pre-A.D. 1532), the deposition of trace elements was mainly dominated by the fallout of aeolian dust and of ash from occasional volcanic eruptions, indicating that metallurgic production during the Inca Empire (A.D. 1438−1532) had a negligible impact on the South American atmosphere. In contrast, a widespread anthropogenic signal is evident after around A.D. 1540, which corresponds with the beginning of colonial mining and metallurgy in Peru and Bolivia, ∼240 y before the Industrial Revolution. This shift was due to a major technological transition for silver extraction in South America (A.D. 1572), from lead-based smelting to mercury amalgamation, which precipitated a massive increase in mining activities. However, deposition of toxic trace metals during the Colonial era was still several factors lower than 20th century pollution that was unprecedented over the entirety of human history.

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An 800-Year Record of Atmospheric As, Mo, Sn, and Sb in Central Asia in High-Altitude Ice Cores from Mt. Qomolangma (Everest), Himalayas

Cited by 83 publications

References 33 publications

Inorganic pollution around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: An overview of the current observations

Inorganic pollution around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: An overview of the current observations

Atmospheric Arsenic Deposition in Chiayi County in Southern Taiwan

Widespread pollution of the South American atmosphere predates the industrial revolution by 240 y

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