HR: 0800h
AN: C51A-1021    [Abstracts]
TI: Mercury Concentrations In A 200-year Snow/Ice Core Record from Mont Blanc
AU: * Nagorski, S A
EM: s_nagorski@yahoo.com
AF: Laboratoire de Glaciologie et G‚ophysique de l'Environnement du CNRS, 54, rue MoliŠre, B.P. 96, St Martin d'Heres, 38402 France
AU: Ferrari, C P
AF: Laboratoire de Glaciologie et G‚ophysique de l'Environnement du CNRS, 54, rue MoliŠre, B.P. 96, St Martin d'Heres, 38402 France
AU: Planchon, F A
AF: Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Venice, Ca' Foscari, Venice, I-30123 Italy
AU: Barbante, C
AF: Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Venice, Ca' Foscari, Venice, I-30123 Italy
AU: Gabrielli, P
AF: Laboratoire de Glaciologie et G‚ophysique de l'Environnement du CNRS, 54, rue MoliŠre, B.P. 96, St Martin d'Heres, 38402 France
AU: Boutron, C F
AF: Laboratoire de Glaciologie et G‚ophysique de l'Environnement du CNRS, 54, rue MoliŠre, B.P. 96, St Martin d'Heres, 38402 France
AB: Mercury pollution is a global phenomenon of increasing importance due to its strong toxicity in the environment. Quantifying the scale of Hg pollution since the onset of the industrial era, and distinguishing natural from anthropogenic sources of Hg, is a major scientific challenge. One means of resolving the historical Hg levels in the atmosphere is through the examination of polar and alpine ice cores. There are exceedingly few studies of Hg concentrations in the ice record. We present here the results of the Hg record extracted from a 140 m snow/ice core drilled in 1994 into the east slope of Dome du Gouter (4250 m elevation), approximately 1.5 km northwest of the Mont Blanc summit in the French-Italian Alps. Hg concentrations in the late 20th century segment of the core are approximately 10 times higher than the earliest samples (from approx. 1790 AD) and 3 times higher than concentrations in much of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of the concentrations are in general agreement with a mid-latitude Hg ice core study from the Rocky Mountains in the United States, though peak Hg concentrations are higher in this Alpine core, perhaps reflecting its closer proximity to industrial sources.
DE: 1803 Anthropogenic effects
DE: 1030 Geochemical cycles (0330)
DE: 1065 Trace elements (3670)
DE: 1610 Atmosphere (0315, 0325)
DE: 0345 Pollution--urban and regional (0305)
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting