Abstract
Concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn have been measured using improved ultraclean procedures in a succession of twenty six snow samples integrating a 40 yr time sequence from 1940 to 1980 which were collected from the walls of a 6 m deep pit at stake D 55 in Adelie Land, East Antarctica. Measured concentrations, which are among the lowest ones ever measured in Antarctic snows, are found not to have significantly increased during the investigated time period, with the possible exception of Pb for which there might have been a significant increase after the mid 1960's. For this last metal, measured concentrations in the 1940's are about 6-fold higher than in Antarctic Holocene ice several thousand years old, which indicates that a large fraction of the anthropogenic increase for Pb probably occurred before the 1940's.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arimoto R., Duce R.A., Ray B.J., Hewitt A.D. and Williams J. (1987) ‘Trace elements in the atmosphere of American Samoa: concentrations and deposition to the tropical South Pacific’, J. Geophys. Res. 92, 8465–8479.
Batifol F., Boutron C.F. and De Angelis M. (1989) ‘Changes in copper, zinc and cadmium concentrations in Antarctic ice during the past 40,000 years’, Nature, 377, 544–546.
Bolshov M.A., Boutron C.F. and Zybin A.V. (1989) ‘Determination of lead in Antarctic ice at the picogram-per-gram level by laser atomic fluorescence spectrometry’, Anal. Chem. 61, 1758–1762.
Boutron C.F. (1980) ‘Respective influence of global pollution and volcanic eruptions on the past variations of the trace metals content of Antarctic snows since 1880′s,’ J. Geophys. Res. 85, 7426–7432.
Boutron C.F. (1982) ‘Atmospheric trace metals in the snow layers deposited at the South Pole from 1928 to 1977,’ Atmos. Environ. 16, 2451–2459.
Boutron C.F. (1990) ‘A clean laboratory for ultralow concentration heavy metal analysis,’ Fresenius J. Anal. Chem. 337, 482–491.
Boutron C.F. and Lorius C. (1979) ‘Trace metals in Antarctic snows since 1914,’ Nature 277, 551–554.
Boutron, C.F. and Görlach, U. (1990) ‘The occurrence of heavy metals in Antarctic and Greenland ancient ice and recent snow, in J.A.C. Broekaert, S. Gücer and F. Adams (eds.), Metal Speciation in the Environment, NATO ASI Series Vol. G 23, Springer-Verlag, pp. 137–151.
Boutron C.F. and Patterson C.C. (1983) ‘The occurrence of lead in Antarctic recent snow, firn deposited over the last two centuries and prehistoric ice,’ Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 47, 1355–1368.
Boutron C.F. and Patterson C.C. (1986) ‘Lead concentrations changes in Antarctic ice during the Wisconsin/Holocene transition,’ Nature 323, 222–225.
Boutron C.F. and Patterson C.C. (1987) ‘Relative levels of natural and anthropogenic lead in recent Antarctic snow,’ J. Geophys. Res. 92, 8454–8464.
Boutron C.F., Patterson C.C., Petrov V.N. and Barkov N.I. (1987) ‘Preliminary data on changes of lead concentrations in Antarctic ice from 155,000 to 26,000 years BP,’ Atmos. Environ. 21, 1197–1202.
Boutron C.F., Bolshov M.A., Kolshnikov V.G., Patterson C.C., and Barkov N.I. (1990a) ‘Direct determination of lead in Vostok Antarctic ancient ice by laser excited atomic fluorescence spectrometry,’ Atmos. Environ. 24 A, 1797–1800.
Boutron C.F., Patterson C.C. and Barkov N.I. (1990b) ‘The occurrence of zine in Antarctic ancient ice and recent snow,’ Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 101, 248–259.
Delmas R.J. and Boutron C.F. (1980) ‘Are the past variations of the stratospheric sulfate burden recorded in central Antarctic snow and ice layers?,’ J. Geophys. Res. 85, 5645–5649.
Dick, A.L. (1987) ‘Trace elements in Antarctic snow and air,’ Ph.D. Dissertation, Counc. Natl. Acad. Awards, British Antarct. Surv., Cambridge, U.K., 233 pp.
Duce R.A., Arimoto R., Ray B.J., Unni C.K. and Harder P.J. (1983) ‘Atmospheric trace elements at Enewetak atoll: 1. Concentrations, sources and temporal variability,’ J. Geophys. Res., 88, 5321–5342.
Görlach U. and Boutron C.F. (1990) ‘Preconcentration of lead, cadmium, copper and zine in water at the pg g-1 level by non-boiling evaporation,’ Anal. Chim. Acta 236, 391–398.
Legrand, M. (1985) ‘Chimie des neiges et glaces Antarctiques: un reflet de l'environnement,’ Thèse de Doctorat d'Etat, University of Grenoble, France, 439 pp.
Legrand M.R. and Delmas R.J. (1987) ‘A 220-year continuous record of volcanic H2SO4 in the Antarctic ice sheet,’ Nature 327, 671–676.
Maring H.B. and Duce R.A. (1989) ‘The impact of atmospheric aerosols on trace metal chemistry in open ocean surface seawater. 2. Copper,’ J. Geophys. Res. 94, 1039–1045.
Murozumi M., Chow T.J. and Patterson C.C. (1969) ‘Chemical concentrations of pollutant lead aerosols, terrestrial dusts and sea-salts in Greenland and Antarctic snow strata,’ Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 33, 1247–1294.
Nriagu J.O. (1989) ‘A global assessment of natural sources of atmospheric trace metals,’ Nature 338, 47–49.
Peel, D.A. (1989) ‘Trace metals and soot in ice cores,’ in H. Oeschger and C.C. Langway Jr., (eds.), The Environmental Record in Glaciers and Ice Sheets, Dahlem Konferenzen, John Wiley, pp. 207–223.
Pettre P., Pinglot J.F., Pourchet M. and Reynaud L. (1986) ‘Accumulation distribution in Terre Adélie, Antarctica: effects of meteorological parameters,’ J. Glaciol. 32, 486–500.
Suttie, E.D. and Wolff, E.W. (1991) ‘Seasonal input of heavy metals to Antarctic snow’. In Proceed. 8th Int. Conf. on Heavy Metals in the Environment, Edinburgh, Sept. 16–20, in press.
Taylor S.R. (1964) ‘Abundance of chemical' elements in the continental crust: a new table,’ Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 28, 1273–1285.
Weisel C.P., Duce R.A., Fasching J.L. and Heaton R.W. (1984) ‘Estimates of the transport of trace metals from the ocean to the atmosphere,’ J. Geophys. Res. 89, 11607–11618.
Wolff E.W. and Peel D.A. (1985) ‘Closer to a true value for heavy metal concentrations in recent Antarctic snow by improved contamination control,’ Ann. Glaciol. 7, 61–69.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Görlach, U., Boutron, C.F. Variations in heavy metals concentrations in Antarctic snows from 1940 to 1980. J Atmos Chem 14, 205–222 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00115234
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00115234