A 50-Year Record of Platinum, Iridium, and Rhodium in Antarctic Snow: Volcanic and Anthropogenic Sources
- 9 June 2011
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Environmental Science & Technology
- Vol. 45 (14), 5929-5935
- https://doi.org/10.1021/es2005732
Abstract
Antarctic snow preserves an atmospheric archive that enables the study of global atmospheric changes and anthropogenic disturbances from the past. We report atmospheric deposition rates of platinum group elements (PGEs) in Antarctica during the last ∼50 years based on determinations of Pt, Ir, and Rh in snow samples collected from Queen Maud Land, East Antarctica to evaluate changes in the global atmospheric budget of these noble metals. The 50-year average PGE concentrations in Antarctic snow were 17 fg g–1 (4.7–76 fg g–1) for Pt, 0.12 fg g–1 (–1) for Ir, and 0.71 fg g–1 (0.12–8.8 fg g–1) for Rh. The concentration peaks for Pt, Ir, and Rh were observed at depths corresponding to volcanic eruption periods, indicating that PGEs can be used as a good tracer of volcanic activity in the past. A significant increase in concentrations and crustal enrichment factors for Pt and a slight enhancement in enrichment factors for Rh were observed after the 1980s. This suggests that there has been large-scale atmospheric pollution for Pt and probably for Rh since the 1980s, which may be attributed to the increasing emissions of these metals from anthropogenic sources such as automobile catalysts and metal production processes.Keywords
This publication has 44 references indexed in Scilit:
- Sources and fluxes of Pt, Ir and REE in the Seoul metropolitan area through wet scavenging processesAtmospheric Environment, 2011
- Siderophile metal fallout to Greenland from the 1991 winter eruption of Hekla (Iceland) and during the global atmospheric perturbation of PinatuboChemical Geology, 2008
- Geochemistry and mineralogy of the phonolite lava lake, Erebus volcano, Antarctica: 1972–2004 and comparison with older lavasJournal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 2008
- Temporal and spatial variability of surface mass balance at Dome Fuji, East Antarctica, by the stake method from 1995 to 2006Journal of Glaciology, 2008
- Platinum-group elements (Ir, Pd, Pt and Rh) in road-deposited sediments in two urban watersheds, HawaiiApplied Geochemistry, 2007
- Rhenium‐osmium isotope systematics and platinum group element concentrations: Loess and the upper continental crustGeochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 2001
- Impact of the Cerro Hudson and Pinatubo volcanic eruptions on the Antarctic air and snow chemistryJournal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 1999
- Volcanic gas emissions from Mount Erebus and their impact on the Antarctic environmentJournal of Geophysical Research, 1997
- IRIDIUM IN THE ASH OF KAMCHATKAN VOLCANOESInternational Geology Review, 1988
- Volcanoes, the stratosphere, and climateJournal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 1986