The Source Of Lead Pollution In Greenland

Lead deposits, which accumulated in soil and snow during the 1960’s and 70’s, were primarily the result of leaded gasoline emissions originating in the United States. In the twenty years that the Clean Air Act has mandated unleaded gas use in the United States, the :ad accumulation world-wide has decreased significantly.

A study published recently in the journal Breitling Replica Watches Nature shows that air-borne leaded gas emissions from the United States were the leading contributor to the high concentration of lead i the snow in Greenland. The new study is a result of the continued research led by Dr. Charles Boutron, an expert on the impact of heavy metals on the environment at the National Center for Scientific Research in France. A study by Dr. Boutron published in 1991 lowed that lead levels in arctic snow were declining.

In his new study, Dr. Boutron found the ratios of the different forms of lead in the leaded gasoline used in the United States were different from the ratios of European, Asian id Canadian gasolines and thus enabled scientists to differentiate the lead sources, he dominant lead ratio found in Greenland snow matched that found in gasoline from the United States.

In a study published in the journal Ambio, scientists found that lead levels in soil in .e North-eastern United States had decreased markedly since the introduction of unleaded gasoline.
Many scientists had believed that the lead would stay in soil and snow for a longer period.
The authors of the Ambio study examined samples of the upper layers of soil taken on the same sites of 30 forest floors in New England, New York and Bulgari Replica Pennsylvania in ’80 and in 1990. The forest environment processed and redistributed the lead faster than e scientists had expected.
Scientists say both studies demonstrate that certain parts of the ecosystem respond rapidly to reductions in atmospheric pollution, but that these findings should not: used as a license to pollute.