Reporting in Nature Communications, an international research team studied mercury levels near small and artisanal gold mines in the Amazon rainforest. It's already known that these small-scale mines, largely informal or illegal, are a bigger source of mercury than burning coal. By studying samples of air, leaf litter, soil, and leaves from the top of trees of mining areas, pristine areas, and areas with low density of trees, the team hoped to find out how much damaging mercury the forests were capturing and storing.
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