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Trace metals in Antarctic snows since 1914

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Abstract

THE results of the variations of the concentrations of 12 elements including Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn and Ag in snow deposited from 1914 to 1974 at an uncontaminated site in East Antarctica are discussed here. As the composition of snow in central Antarctica is shown to be closely correlated to that in the lower atmosphere, this provides us with a valuable historical record of the composition of remote aerosols in the Southern Hemisphere. We find that Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn and Ag were already strongly enriched 60 yr ago (with respect to the composition of reference crustal and marine sources), and that both the concentrations and the enrichment factors observed in 1914 for these five elements are comparable to the present ones. This suggests that the present background atmospheric concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn and Ag in the Southern Hemisphere are not strongly influenced by global pollution, but are related to natural phenomena, possibly volcanism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Glaciologie du CNRS, 2, rue Très-Cloitres, 38031, Grenoble-Cedex, France

    CLAUDE BOUTRON & CLAUDE LORIUS

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  1. CLAUDE BOUTRON
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  2. CLAUDE LORIUS
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BOUTRON, C., LORIUS, C. Trace metals in Antarctic snows since 1914. Nature 277, 551–554 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/277551a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/277551a0

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