Lead from Carthaginian and Roman Spanish Mines Isotopically Identified in Greenland Ice Dated from 600 B.C. to 300 A.D.

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• 作者：Kevin J. R. Rosman ; Warrick Chisholm ; Sungmin Hong ; Jean-Pierre Candelone ; and Claude F. Boutron
• 刊名：Environmental Science & Technology
• 出版年：1997
• 出版时间：December 1997
• 年：1997
• 卷：31
• 期：12
• 页码：3413 - 3416
• 全文大小：104K
• 年卷期：v.31,no.12(December 1997)
• ISSN：1520-5851

文摘

The pollution history of the atmosphere of the NorthernHemisphere is recorded in the levels of heavy metalimpuritiesin Greenland ice. The possibility also exists ofusingnatural variations in the abundances of lead isotopes totrace the source of this pollution. Lead isotopes havenowbeen measured in ancient Greenland ice with a leadconcentration as low as 0.9 pg/g. The results show adepression in the ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratio between 600B.C. and300 A.D., giving unequivocal evidence of early large-scaleatmospheric pollution by this toxic metal. This ratiochangesfrom ~1.201 in ~8-kyr-old ice to ~1.183 about 2 kyrago.Isotopic systematics point to the mining districts insouthwest and southeast Spain as the dominant sourcesof this lead, giving quantitative evidence of theimportanceof these mining districts to the Carthaginian and Romancivilizations. Lead with a Rio Tinto-type signaturerepresents~70% of the lead found in Greenland ice between ~150B.C. and 50 A.D. after correcting for the contributionfromrock dust indexed to aluminiumconcentrations.