Poisonous substances in the depths of glaciers
Melting glaciers could cause contamination Environment
Glaciers - a time bomb ticking time. The melting ice raises sea levels. But there is another danger: in the depths of glaciers over time accumulate toxic chemicals. This conclusion was reached by researchers of the Swiss Technical University in Zurich (ETH).
Especially dangerous so-called POPs (persistent organic pollutants - POPs), whose use in industrial production was banned back in the 70 years of the last century due to the fact that difficult degradable pollutants are carcinogenic and toxic substances, due to air currents may be anywhere in the world. Together with atmospheric precipitation, they get on, where and preserved under the snow.
Swiss researchers examined sediment of alpine lake Oberaar in the Swiss canton of Bern. It is under the glacier, which since 1930 has decreased by approximately 1.6 kilometers. Together with melted glacier water, poisonous chemicals penetrate into the lake and settled on its bottom.
Thus, glaciers are indirect sources of poisonous substances. And down the process of global warming on Earth increases the melting of glaciers and, consequently, the world gets another environmental problem in the form of an environmental impact long ago banned chemicals such as persistent organic pollutants (POP).