Mercury is a particularly persistent pollutant, and sticks around
in surface waters and the air for centuries, said Dave Krabbenhoft, a
researcher at the U.S. Geological Survey in Middleton, Wis. As a
volatile metal, it vaporizes at relatively low temperatures, and can
cycle between the water and the atmosphere, evaporating from the ocean
before becoming deposited back on its surface, Krabbenhoft told
LiveScience.
In fact, most mercury found in the atmosphere and the ocean arrived
there from human activities such as coal combustion and mining decades
to centuries ago, studies show. Today, small-scale gold mining is the largest source of new mercury pollution, Krabbenhoft said.
The toxic metal's mercurial nature makes it sensitive to changes in
climate, according to a study co-authored by Krabbenhoft published on
Sept. 26 in the journal Science.
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