Flow of metals into the global atmosphere

Details Flow of metals into the global atmosphere Flow of metals into the global atmosphere

Nov 1981

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1981gecoa..45.2185j&link_type=abstract

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 45, Issue 11, pp.2185-2199

Computer Science

7

Scientific paper

Concentrations of 137 Cs, 210 Pb, 226 Ra, U, V, Pb, Cd and Hg have been measured in firn and ice deposited during the past three decades in accumulation zones of glaciers and also in pre-industrial glacier ice collected in Spitsbergen, Northern Norway, Alaska, Southern Norway, Alps, Himalayas, Ruwenzori, Peruvian Andes, and at King George Island in Antarctica. Except for Hg, the geographical distribution of mean concentrations of 226 Ra, U and stable heavy metals in contemporary ice is not uniform, with the lowest concentrations found in Northern Norway, Alaska and Antarctica, and the highest in continental locations at equatorial and middle latitudes. We did not find evidence of changes in rate of metal deposition during the last three decades, as compared with pre-industrial period, however, our samples of pre-industrial ice might be contaminated in part by contemporary fallout migrating from the exposed surface of old parts of glaciers into the deeper ice layers. Using the data on annual injections of 137 Cs into the global atmosphere and mean global concentrations of radionuclides and heavy metals found in contemporary ice the global annual flows of 226 Ra, 210 Pb, U,V, Pb, Cd and Hg were estimated as 6.6 kCi, 485 kCi, 12kt, 4870kt, 590 kt, 180 kt and 190 kt, respectively. These estimates are 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than estimates based on primary paniculate emissions. The anthropogenic contribution is a small fraction of the flows, which are dominated by natural processes leading to enrichment of metals in airborne dust.

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