Historic Lead Pollution Discovered in Asian Ice Caps, Ohio State Study Reveals Industrial Impact

Even the pristine ice caps of Tibet have fallen victim to human pollution. A groundbreaking study by Ohio State University scientists, analyzing ice cores from the Guliya ice cap, has uncovered a stark increase in lead isotope levels, a direct consequence of the Industrial Revolution.

The Guliya ice cap is a high-altitude ice cap located in the far western Kunlun Mountains on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China. It’s a significant location for scientific research due to its remote location and the valuable climate information preserved within its ice layers.

While increases in the amount of lead could be found in ice core samples dated to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, a significant change in its origin was noted beginning in 1974, when regulatory agencies in the U.S. began to institute strong emissions policies to curb dangerous overexposure to the metal. Though this caused a decrease in some types of gasoline use in some countries, other sources of lead emissions peaked later, said Roxana Sierra-Hernandez, lead author of the study and a senior research associate at The Ohio State University’s Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center.

Please help us out :
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at [email protected].
Thank you.

“Our lead isotope samples date to about 36,000 years ago, a time when we know that no civilizations at the time were using lead – meaning that much of what we found is natural,” she said. “Now with this work, we can pinpoint anthropogenic lead and when they left a mark in the region.”

The study was published recently in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

The lifeblood of millions, the Tibetan Plateau’s glaciers, are dwindling due to global warming. As these ice giants retreat, communities face a water crisis. Moreover, the melting ice threatens to unleash pollutants locked within, a grave concern highlighted by Sierra-Hernandez.

“Depending on the amount of pollution there is in the environment, it sinks into these glaciers,” said Sierra-Hernandez. “If a glacier melts, that source of pollution can leak into nearby rivers.”

While small quantities of lead do originate from beneath the Earth’s crust, the bigger issue is lead put into the environment through human activity, she said. Prolonged exposure to the heavy metal can be toxic to humans, both when ingested or inhaled through contaminated food, water or air. It has been known to lead to a wide variety of health issues, including cancer, cardiovascular disease and fertility issues.

With more accurate data on what constitutes a natural lead baseline, researchers can get a better handle on how drastically humans have affected the environment and better prepare for these consequences, according to the research.

Additionally, since lead isotopes can act like a fingerprint for unique chemical signatures, researchers can use them to track and investigate sources of pollution, opening a path for similar studies to analyze and compare polluted ice core samples from other glaciers around the world, said Sierra-Hernandez.

“Future studies can build on this study to compare modern and ancient pollution trends and better identify sources due to human activities,” said Sierra-Hernandez. “It’s important to do more lead isotope studies. It’s hard and it’s time-consuming, but there’s so much to learn.”