Historical records and contamination assessment of potential toxic elements (PTEs) over the past 100 years in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard

Yang, Zhongkang; Yuan, Yuan Linxi; Xie, Zhouqing; Wang, Jun; Li, Zhaolei; Tu, Luyao; Sun, Liguang (2020). Historical records and contamination assessment of potential toxic elements (PTEs) over the past 100 years in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. Environmental pollution, 266, p. 115205. Elsevier Science 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115205

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Ny-Ålesund has been significantly impacted by anthropogenic activities (e.g. coal mining, scientific research, tourist shipping) over the past 100 years. However, the studies of potential toxic elements (PTEs) contamination in Ny-Ålesund currently mainly focus on surface soil or surface fjord sediments, and little is known about the history and status of PTEs contamination over the past 100 years. In this study, we collected a palaeo-notch sediment profile YN, analyzed the contents of six typical PTEs (Cu, Pb, Cd, Hg, As, Se) in the sediments, and assessed the historical pollution status in Ny-Ålesund using the pollution load index, geo-accumulation index and enrichment factor. The results showed that the contents of PTEs over the past 100 years increased rapidly compared with those during the interval of 9400-100 BP. In addition, Pb, Cd and Hg showed a clear signal of enrichment and were the main polluters among the PTEs analyzed. The contamination was likely linked to gas-oil powered generators, coal mining, research station, tourist shipping and long-range transport of pollutants.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Physical Geography > Unit Paleolimnology
10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Physical Geography

Graduate School:

Graduate School of Climate Sciences

UniBE Contributor:

Tu, Luyao

Subjects:

500 Science > 550 Earth sciences & geology
900 History > 910 Geography & travel
500 Science > 540 Chemistry

ISSN:

0269-7491

Publisher:

Elsevier Science

Language:

English

Submitter:

Luyao Tu

Date Deposited:

28 Jan 2021 19:06

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:45

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115205

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/151627

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