METALS IN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

Metals released to the atmosphere by natural processes (e.g. erosion) or by anthropogenic activities (e.g. ore processing) are deposited in sedimentary sequences and can be measured using geochemical analysis. Much research has focused on the postindustrial flux of metals in the atmosphere amid concerns over pollution, and high concentrations of lead and mercury have been discovered in the Greenland ice cores for this period. The anthropogenic flux of metals released since the copper age has shown that industrial pollution has occurred for millennia, yet new research has demonstrated that the natural flux of metals has varied over longer timescales and can be used as a proxy climatic indicator.

[See alsobronze age, iron (Fe), iron age, lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), pollution history]