Natural and anthropogenic variations in atmospheric mercury deposition during the Holocene near Quelccaya Ice Cap, Peru

• Published in: Global Biogeochemical Cycles
• Main Authors: Beal, Samuel A., Kelly, Meredith A., Stroup, Justin S., Jackson, Brian P., Lowell, Thomas V., Tapia, Pedro M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union 2014
• Subjects: Peru; Holocene; sediment core; Deposition; global climate; atmospheric deposition; Atmospheric mercury deposition; Background level; Cuzco [Peru]; lake sediment; Lake sediments; Lakes; mercury (element); Mercury (metal); mercury record; Natural sources; Pre-industrial; Quelccaya Ice Cap; Reservoirs (water); Spatial extent; toxic metals; tropical climate; Tropical climates; https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#1.05.04; Ice cap
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12866/10471; https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GB004780

Mercury (Hg) is a toxic metal that is transported globally through the atmosphere. Emissions of Hg from mineral reservoirs and recycling between soil/biomass, oceans, and the atmosphere are fundamental to the global Hg cycle, yet past emissions from anthropogenic and natural sources are not fully constrained. We use a sediment core from Yanacocha, a headwater lake in southeastern Peru, to study the anthropogenic and natural controls on atmospheric Hg deposition during the Holocene.