Wan, Dejun;
Yang, Handong;
Jin, Zhangdong;
Song, Lei;
Ning, Dongliang;
Cheng, Longjuan;
Jiang, Qingfeng;
(2023)
Two-century sediment records of atmospheric mercury variations in North China and their relations with regional and global emissions.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research
, 30
pp. 83834-83844.
10.1007/s11356-023-28094-8.
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Abstract
Sedimentary mercury (Hg) records from remote areas are significant for revealing historical variations of regional Hg and understanding the influence of regional and global Hg emissions. In this study, sediment cores were retrieved from two subalpine lakes in Shanxi Province in North China and employed to reconstruct atmospheric Hg variations over the last two centuries. The two records show similar anthropogenic Hg fluxes and evolution trends, corresponding with that they were affected mainly by regional atmospheric Hg deposition. Before ~1950, the records show negligible Hg pollution signals. Atmospheric Hg in the region had increased rapidly since the 1950s, lagged more than a half-century compared to the global Hg. This indicates that they were seldom affected by Hg emissions dominated by Europe and North America after the industrial revolution. The Hg increases since the 1950s in the two records corresponded well with rapid industrial developments in and around Shanxi Province after the founding of the China, implying the dominant contribution of domestic Hg emissions. By comparing other Hg records, we find that widespread increases in atmospheric Hg in China likely occurred post ~1950. This study rouses to re-examine historical variations in atmospheric Hg at various settings, which is significant to understanding global Hg cycling in the industrial era.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Two-century sediment records of atmospheric mercury variations in North China and their relations with regional and global emissions |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s11356-023-28094-8 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28094-8 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Sediment record, Pollution history, Heavy metal, Atmospheric pollution, North China |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Geography |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10172782 |
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