Mercury in Lake Sediments: a Possible Indicator of Technological Growth

Aston, S.R.; Bruty, D.; Chester, R.; Padgham, R.C.

doi:10.1038/241450a0

Cited by 71 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…A number of studies have dated recent sediments in Windermere and other lakes in the catchment (Aston et al, 1973;Pennington et al, 1973;Pennington et al, 1976;Appleby et al, 1991;Appleby et al, 2003;Barker et al, 2005). In the North Basin, 210 Pb dates from a 1997 mini-core (located c. 600 m SW of core +54-03/68 PC)…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Windermere catchment, the historical extent of heavy metal pollution is believed to be considerable (Millward et al, 2000). Concentrations of heavy metals in sediment cores (0.5 -1 m long) from the South Basin have identified enriched levels of lead, zinc, copper and mercury related to anthropogenic inputs such as mining activities, denudation of land surfaces, sewage discharge, heavy industry and burning of fossil fuels (Aston et al, 1973;Hamilton-Taylor, 1979;Hamilton-Taylor, 1983).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modern Pollution Signals in Sediments from Windermere, NW England, Determined by Micro-XRF and Lead Isotope Analysis

Miller

Croudace

Bull

et al. 2015

Micro-XRF Studies of Sediment Cores

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High resolution geochemical (Itrax micro-XRF and wavelength dispersive XRF) data, radiochronology ( 210 Pb and 137 Cs analyses) and ultra-high precision double-spike lead isotope measurements from lacustrine sediment cores are used in combination with historical research of former mining landscapes to investigate modern pollution signals in sediments from Windermere, the largest lake in the English Lake District. The sediment record suggests that while most element concentrations have been stable, there has been a significant increase since the 1930s in lead, zinc and copper concentrations. Double-spike lead isotope measurements reveal a mixture of natural lead, and three major contributory sources of anthropogenic (industrial) lead, comprising gasoline lead, coal combustion lead (from coal-fired steam ships) and lead derived from Carboniferous Pb-Zn mineralisation (mining activities). A number of up-system sediment traps have limited the amount of mining related heavy metals entering Windermere, and as a result, periods of metal workings do not correlate with peaks in heavy metals. Increases could also be due to flood-induced metal inwash or weathering of bedrock in the catchment. Application of these non-destructive and high precision analytical techniques provides new insights into the pollutant depositional history of Windermere.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modern Pollution Signals in Sediments from Windermere, NW England, Determined by Micro-XRF and Lead Isotope Analysis

Miller

Croudace

Bull

et al. 2015

Micro-XRF Studies of Sediment Cores

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“…The earliest studies to use lake sediment records to infer recent changes in heavy metal pollution explored variations in the concentrations of Hg and Pb (Thomas 1972;Aston et al 1973;Kemp and Thomas 1976). Their interpretations are based on the trends and timing of concentration changes, allowing them to infer an increasing pollution load.…”

Section: Raw Concentrationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lacustrine Archives of Metals from Mining and Other Industrial Activities—A Geochemical Approach

Boyle

Chiverrell

Schillereff

2015

Environmental Contaminants

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Since the first studies reporting recent stratigraphic changes of metal concentration in lake sediments, many hundreds of studies have been published in the peer-reviewed literature. It is an impossible task to do justice to all of these works here; instead we: (1) examine recent methodological advances and place these in the context of the historical development of the discipline; and (2) explore the various purposes to which such methods have been applied. Such a historical emphasis may appear in conflict with the needs of a review of new approaches; however, this is not in fact the case for two main reasons. First, most new advances supplement rather than replace traditional methods, such that a thorough understanding of the practical and theoretical issues impacting these is still essential for reliable interpretation of palaeolimnological data. Second, while many of the new methods purport to circumvent problems, they achieve this only under favourable conditions, not dissimilar to the conditions that influence the earlier methods, so the same lesson must be learned anyway. Consequently, we use this historical narrative to address the fundamentals of the discipline.The chapter comprises two main parts; methodology and applications. The methodological section has three subsections: (1) Introduction to processes controlling natural variations in metal fluxes and concentrations in lake sediments; (2) Measurement of metal concentrations in sediments; (3) Calculation of enrichment or fluxes from sediment metal concentration data.There are four main applications subsections focusing on the value of lake sediment records of metals derived from mining or industry. They are: (1) Geochronological markers in sediments providing chronology for other research goals; (2) Lake sediment heavy metal records to quantify pollution loading histories, or to

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“…Vertical distributions of mercury concentra tion in lake and marine core sediments have been reported by ASTON et al (1973) and YOUNG et al (1973). The profiles showed that the mercury concentrations were high in the surface and decreased with depth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%