Environmental pollutants from the Scott and Shackleton expeditions during the ‘Heroic Age’ of Antarctic exploration
Early explorers to Antarctica built wooden huts and brought huge quantities of supplies and equipment to support their geographical and scientific studies for several years. When the expeditions ended and relief ships arrived, a rapid exodus frequently allowed only essential items to be taken north....
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2004
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247403003334 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247403003334 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0032247403003334 2024-03-03T08:38:32+00:00 Environmental pollutants from the Scott and Shackleton expeditions during the ‘Heroic Age’ of Antarctic exploration Blanchette, Robert A. Held, Benjamin W. Jurgens, Joel A. Aislabie, Jackie Duncan, Shona Farrell, Roberta L. 2004 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247403003334 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247403003334 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Polar Record volume 40, issue 2, page 143-151 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development journal-article 2004 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247403003334 2024-02-08T08:36:23Z Early explorers to Antarctica built wooden huts and brought huge quantities of supplies and equipment to support their geographical and scientific studies for several years. When the expeditions ended and relief ships arrived, a rapid exodus frequently allowed only essential items to be taken north. The huts and thousands of items were left behind. Fuel depots with unused containers of petroleum products, asbestos materials, and diverse chemicals were also left at the huts. This investigation found high concentrations of polyaromatic hydrocarbons in soils under and around the historic fuel depots, including anthracene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, chrysene, fluorene, and pyrene, as well as benzo[a]anthracene, benzo[a]pyrene, and fluoranthene, which are recognized carcinogens. Asbestos materials within the huts have been identified and extensive amounts of fragmented asbestos were found littering the ground around the Cape Evans hut. These materials are continually abraded and fragmented as tourists walk over them and the coarse scoria breaks and grinds down the materials. A chemical spill, within the Cape Evans hut, apparently from caustic substances from one of the scientific experiments, has caused an unusual deterioration and defibration on affected woods. Although these areas are important historic sites protected by international treaties, the hazardous waste materials left by the early explorers should be removed and remedial action taken to restore the site to as pristine a condition as possible. Recommendations are discussed for international efforts to study and clean up these areas, where the earliest environmental pollution in Antarctica was produced. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Polar Record Cambridge University Press Antarctic Shackleton Cape Evans ENVELOPE(161.550,161.550,-75.100,-75.100) Polar Record 40 2 143 151 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development |
spellingShingle |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development Blanchette, Robert A. Held, Benjamin W. Jurgens, Joel A. Aislabie, Jackie Duncan, Shona Farrell, Roberta L. Environmental pollutants from the Scott and Shackleton expeditions during the ‘Heroic Age’ of Antarctic exploration |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development |
description |
Early explorers to Antarctica built wooden huts and brought huge quantities of supplies and equipment to support their geographical and scientific studies for several years. When the expeditions ended and relief ships arrived, a rapid exodus frequently allowed only essential items to be taken north. The huts and thousands of items were left behind. Fuel depots with unused containers of petroleum products, asbestos materials, and diverse chemicals were also left at the huts. This investigation found high concentrations of polyaromatic hydrocarbons in soils under and around the historic fuel depots, including anthracene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, chrysene, fluorene, and pyrene, as well as benzo[a]anthracene, benzo[a]pyrene, and fluoranthene, which are recognized carcinogens. Asbestos materials within the huts have been identified and extensive amounts of fragmented asbestos were found littering the ground around the Cape Evans hut. These materials are continually abraded and fragmented as tourists walk over them and the coarse scoria breaks and grinds down the materials. A chemical spill, within the Cape Evans hut, apparently from caustic substances from one of the scientific experiments, has caused an unusual deterioration and defibration on affected woods. Although these areas are important historic sites protected by international treaties, the hazardous waste materials left by the early explorers should be removed and remedial action taken to restore the site to as pristine a condition as possible. Recommendations are discussed for international efforts to study and clean up these areas, where the earliest environmental pollution in Antarctica was produced. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Blanchette, Robert A. Held, Benjamin W. Jurgens, Joel A. Aislabie, Jackie Duncan, Shona Farrell, Roberta L. |
author_facet |
Blanchette, Robert A. Held, Benjamin W. Jurgens, Joel A. Aislabie, Jackie Duncan, Shona Farrell, Roberta L. |
author_sort |
Blanchette, Robert A. |
title |
Environmental pollutants from the Scott and Shackleton expeditions during the ‘Heroic Age’ of Antarctic exploration |
title_short |
Environmental pollutants from the Scott and Shackleton expeditions during the ‘Heroic Age’ of Antarctic exploration |
title_full |
Environmental pollutants from the Scott and Shackleton expeditions during the ‘Heroic Age’ of Antarctic exploration |
title_fullStr |
Environmental pollutants from the Scott and Shackleton expeditions during the ‘Heroic Age’ of Antarctic exploration |
title_full_unstemmed |
Environmental pollutants from the Scott and Shackleton expeditions during the ‘Heroic Age’ of Antarctic exploration |
title_sort |
environmental pollutants from the scott and shackleton expeditions during the ‘heroic age’ of antarctic exploration |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247403003334 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247403003334 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(161.550,161.550,-75.100,-75.100) |
geographic |
Antarctic Shackleton Cape Evans |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Shackleton Cape Evans |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Polar Record |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Polar Record |
op_source |
Polar Record volume 40, issue 2, page 143-151 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247403003334 |
container_title |
Polar Record |
container_volume |
40 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
143 |
op_container_end_page |
151 |
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1792506938177617920 |