Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Volume 44, Issue 14, Pages 5613-5618Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/es100246e
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- University of California
- National Science Foundation [OCE-0751681]
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Ocean Sciences [0821303] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Analyses of lead concentration and isotopic composition of recent and archived samples of the lace lichen (Ramalina menziesii chronicle more than a century of atmospheric lead contamination in central California. The contamination extends back to our oldest sample from 1892, when lead levels in lichen from the northern reach of the San Francisco Bay estuary were 9-12 mu g/g and their isotopic composition corresponded to those of high lead emissions from the Selby smelter (e.g.,(206)Pb/(207)Pb = 1.165) that were killing horses in adjacent fields at that time. By the mid-1950s lead isotopic compositions of lichens shifted to the more radiogenic leaded gasoline emissions (e.g., (206)Pb/(207)Pb = 1.18-1.22). Lead concentrations in the lichen peaked at 880 mu g/g in 1976, corresponding with the maximum of leaded gasoline emissions in California in the 1970s. After that lead concentrations in lichen declined to current levels, ranging from 0.2 to 4.7 mu g/g. However, isotopic compositions of contemporary samples still correspond to those of previous leaded gasoline emissions in California. This correspondence is consistent with other observations that attest to the persistence of environmental lead contamination from historic industrial emissions in central California.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available