This whopping increase in mercury content is due to human activities, researchers say

Aug 7, 2014 09:10 GMT  ·  By
Study finds that the world's oceans now contain more mercury than they did before the Industrial Revolution
   Study finds that the world's oceans now contain more mercury than they did before the Industrial Revolution

The world's oceans now pack considerably more mercury than they did just decades ago, and humans are the ones to blame for this change in their chemistry, researchers argue in a recent paper in the journal Nature.

Data collected during as many as 12 sampling cruises carried out over a period of time of 8 years indicates that the oceans' upper layers now contain about three times more mercury than they did prior to the Industrial Revolution.

According to specialists with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and fellow researchers, this increase in our oceans' mercury content is due to human activities such as burning coal for energy and making cement.

As part of their investigation into how various human activities have altered the chemistry of our planet's oceans since the Industrial Revolution until present day, scientists analyzed the makeup of thousands of water samples.

Some of these samples were collected from the North and the South Atlantic. Others were obtained while cruising the waters of the Pacific, the specialists behind this research project explain in their paper in the journal Nature.

Looking to accurately measure the extent to which environmental pollution affected oceanic waters, the scientists collected samples from depths ranging from roughly 5 kilometers (about 3.1 miles) to only a few meters below the surface.

It has thus been discovered that, when compared to mercury concentrations documented prior to the Industrial Revolution, those recorded in the upper 100 meters (328 feet) of the oceans in this day and age are 3.4 times higher.

As far as the world's oceans as a whole are concerned, it is estimated that their mercury content has increased by about 10% over the past decades. All in all, planetary oceans are estimated to currently hold about 60,000 to 80,000 tons of mercury pollution.

“The trouble is, we don't know what it all means for fish and marine mammals. It likely means some fish also contain at least three times more mercury than 150 years ago, but it could be more,” specialist Carl Lamborg comments on these findings in a recent interview.

“Mercury is a priority environmental poison detectable wherever we look for it, including the global ocean abyss. These scientists have reminded us that the problem is far from abatement, especially in regions of the world ocean where the human fingerprint is most distinct,” adds Don Rice with the National Science Foundation in the US.

In light of these findings, specialists recommend that efforts intended to put a leash on mercury pollution be implemented without delay. More so given the fact that this compound can work its way up the food chain and eventually come to affect human health.