Mercury in Hair of Mammoth and Other Prehistorical Mammals as a Proxy of Hg Level in the Environment Associated with Climate Changes
The paper presents the first results of Hg determination in the hair of prehistorical animals (woolly mammoth, steppe bison, and woolly rhino). Hair of prehistorical mammals can be used as an archive that preserves changes of environmental pollution at the paleoscale. The aim of our study was to ass...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:2b23d4a9553f4635961b08edf288c3fc 2023-05-15T13:57:03+02:00 Mercury in Hair of Mammoth and Other Prehistorical Mammals as a Proxy of Hg Level in the Environment Associated with Climate Changes Stella Eyrikh Gennady Boeskorov Tatyana Serykh Marina Shchelchkova Tatyana Papina 2020-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/app10238664 https://doaj.org/article/2b23d4a9553f4635961b08edf288c3fc EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/23/8664 https://doaj.org/toc/2076-3417 doi:10.3390/app10238664 2076-3417 https://doaj.org/article/2b23d4a9553f4635961b08edf288c3fc Applied Sciences, Vol 10, Iss 8664, p 8664 (2020) mercury mammoth fauna mammals hair environmental changes paleoclimate Pleistocene Technology T Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) TA1-2040 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/app10238664 2022-12-31T10:48:27Z The paper presents the first results of Hg determination in the hair of prehistorical animals (woolly mammoth, steppe bison, and woolly rhino). Hair of prehistorical mammals can be used as an archive that preserves changes of environmental pollution at the paleoscale. The aim of our study was to assess the levels of Hg exposure of ancient animals and to understand whether Hg concentration in hair could be used as a proxy indicating changes of mercury levels in the environment following global climate changes. We assessed changes of Hg exposure recorded in hairs of seven specimens of mammoth fauna mammals that inhabited the Yakutia region in the period from 45 to 10 ka yr BP. Hg concentrations in hair varied from 0.017 to 0.177 µg/g; the lowest Hg concentration were determined in older specimens (45−33 kyr yr BP). The two highest concentrations belonged sample from the Last Glacial Maximum and the Karginian interstadial (57−24 kyr BP) periods. Our hypothesis is the increase of Hg concentrations in hair reflecting environmental Hg level might be forced by high dust load in cold periods and thawing permafrost in warm climatic periods. Long-term variations of Hg level recovered from Ice Age animals’ hair correlate with Hg profiles of concentration and deposition reconstructed from the Antarctica ice core. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Ice ice core permafrost Yakutia Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Applied Sciences 10 23 8664 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
mercury mammoth fauna mammals hair environmental changes paleoclimate Pleistocene Technology T Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) TA1-2040 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
spellingShingle |
mercury mammoth fauna mammals hair environmental changes paleoclimate Pleistocene Technology T Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) TA1-2040 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 Stella Eyrikh Gennady Boeskorov Tatyana Serykh Marina Shchelchkova Tatyana Papina Mercury in Hair of Mammoth and Other Prehistorical Mammals as a Proxy of Hg Level in the Environment Associated with Climate Changes |
topic_facet |
mercury mammoth fauna mammals hair environmental changes paleoclimate Pleistocene Technology T Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) TA1-2040 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
description |
The paper presents the first results of Hg determination in the hair of prehistorical animals (woolly mammoth, steppe bison, and woolly rhino). Hair of prehistorical mammals can be used as an archive that preserves changes of environmental pollution at the paleoscale. The aim of our study was to assess the levels of Hg exposure of ancient animals and to understand whether Hg concentration in hair could be used as a proxy indicating changes of mercury levels in the environment following global climate changes. We assessed changes of Hg exposure recorded in hairs of seven specimens of mammoth fauna mammals that inhabited the Yakutia region in the period from 45 to 10 ka yr BP. Hg concentrations in hair varied from 0.017 to 0.177 µg/g; the lowest Hg concentration were determined in older specimens (45−33 kyr yr BP). The two highest concentrations belonged sample from the Last Glacial Maximum and the Karginian interstadial (57−24 kyr BP) periods. Our hypothesis is the increase of Hg concentrations in hair reflecting environmental Hg level might be forced by high dust load in cold periods and thawing permafrost in warm climatic periods. Long-term variations of Hg level recovered from Ice Age animals’ hair correlate with Hg profiles of concentration and deposition reconstructed from the Antarctica ice core. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stella Eyrikh Gennady Boeskorov Tatyana Serykh Marina Shchelchkova Tatyana Papina |
author_facet |
Stella Eyrikh Gennady Boeskorov Tatyana Serykh Marina Shchelchkova Tatyana Papina |
author_sort |
Stella Eyrikh |
title |
Mercury in Hair of Mammoth and Other Prehistorical Mammals as a Proxy of Hg Level in the Environment Associated with Climate Changes |
title_short |
Mercury in Hair of Mammoth and Other Prehistorical Mammals as a Proxy of Hg Level in the Environment Associated with Climate Changes |
title_full |
Mercury in Hair of Mammoth and Other Prehistorical Mammals as a Proxy of Hg Level in the Environment Associated with Climate Changes |
title_fullStr |
Mercury in Hair of Mammoth and Other Prehistorical Mammals as a Proxy of Hg Level in the Environment Associated with Climate Changes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mercury in Hair of Mammoth and Other Prehistorical Mammals as a Proxy of Hg Level in the Environment Associated with Climate Changes |
title_sort |
mercury in hair of mammoth and other prehistorical mammals as a proxy of hg level in the environment associated with climate changes |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/app10238664 https://doaj.org/article/2b23d4a9553f4635961b08edf288c3fc |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice ice core permafrost Yakutia |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice ice core permafrost Yakutia |
op_source |
Applied Sciences, Vol 10, Iss 8664, p 8664 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/23/8664 https://doaj.org/toc/2076-3417 doi:10.3390/app10238664 2076-3417 https://doaj.org/article/2b23d4a9553f4635961b08edf288c3fc |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/app10238664 |
container_title |
Applied Sciences |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
23 |
container_start_page |
8664 |
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1766264653144391680 |