Mountaintop Mining Pollution Has Distinct Isotopic Fingerprint

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/news/mountaintop-mining-pollution-has-distinct-isotopic-fingerprint

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Mountaintop Mining Pollution Has Distinct Isotopic Fingerprint[/font]

Aug 15, 2013
Contact Tim Lucas at [phone] or [e-mail]

[font size=4]DURHAM, N.C. -- Three elements commonly found at elevated levels in an Appalachian river polluted by runoff from mountaintop coal mining have distinctive chemistries that can be traced back to their source, according to a Duke University-led study.[/font]

[font size=3]The distinctive chemistries of sulfur, carbon and strontium provide scientists with new, more accurate ways to track pollution from mountaintop mining sites and to distinguish it from contamination from other sources.

"Essentially, we found that these elements have unique isotopic fingerprints, meaning we can use them as diagnostic tools to quantify mountaintop mining's relative contribution to contamination in a watershed," said Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.

The newly identified tracers will be especially useful in watersheds with more than one source of potential contamination, he said. "Because they allow us to distinguish if contaminants are coming from natural sources, fracking and shale gas development, coal mining, coal ash disposal, or other causes."

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es4012959

[stuntcat]

1. and then there's the whole MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL part

Sry.......
Mountaintop removal's one of the things that makes me horrified of humanity. It's a long list for me but MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL's up near the top.

I'm sharing this, TY.

kick