Over three millennia of mercury pollution in the Peruvian Andes
Over three millennia of mercury pollution in the Peruvian Andes
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.0900517106
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发表时间：
2009-06-02
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Wolfe, Alexander P.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cooke, Colin A.;Balcom, Prentiss H.;Wolfe, Alexander P.
我们提出了明确的记录前工业大气汞（Hg）污染，来自附近的Huancavelica，秘鲁，最大的汞存款在新世界的湖泊沉积物岩心收集。汞的密集开采始于2000年。公元前1400年，早于复杂的安第斯社会的出现，并标志着该地区作为早期汞提取的地点。最早的开采是以朱砂（HgS）为目标，用于生产朱砂。殖民前汞负荷峰值约为公元前500年和CA。公元1450年，分别相当于查文和印加国的高度。在印加、殖民时期和工业时期，汞污染成为区域性的，距离万卡韦利卡约225公里的第三个湖泊记录证明了这一点。沉积物汞形态的测量结果表明，朱砂尘最初是占主导地位的汞物种沉积，沉积显着增加仅限于当地环境。在被印加征服后（约100年），公元1450年（公元1450年），矿山采用了冶炼，汞污染变得更加广泛，汞的基质结合相沉积超过了朱砂尘。我们的研究结果表明，存在一个主要的汞采矿业在万卡韦利卡跨越过去的3,500年，并把最近的汞富集在安第斯山脉在更广泛的历史背景。
We present unambiguous records of preindustrial atmospheric mercury (Hg) pollution, derived from lake-sediment cores collected near Huancavelica, Peru, the largest Hg deposit in the New World. Intensive Hg mining first began ca. 1400 BC, predating the emergence of complex Andean societies, and signifying that the region served as a locus for early Hg extraction. The earliest mining targeted cinnabar (HgS) for the production of vermillion. Pre-Colonial Hg burdens peak ca. 500 BC and ca. 1450 AD, corresponding to the heights of the Chavin and Inca states, respectively. During the Inca, Colonial, and industrial intervals, Hg pollution became regional, as evidenced by a third lake record approximate to 225 km distant from Huancavelica. Measurements of sediment-Hg speciation reveal that cinnabar dust was initially the dominant Hg species deposited, and significant increases in deposition were limited to the local environment. After conquest by the Inca (ca. 1450 AD), smelting was adopted at the mine and Hg pollution became more widely circulated, with the deposition of matrix-bound phases of Hg predominating over cinnabar dust. Our results demonstrate the existence of a major Hg mining industry at Huancavelica spanning the past 3,500 years, and place recent Hg enrichment in the Andes in a broader historical context.