• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Thursday, July 31, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

Scientists sound alarm about unprecedented mercury accumulation in Pacific Ocean trenches

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
May 26, 2021
in Biology
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Multi-national team of scientists discover amounts of mercury in the deepest trenches of the Pacific Ocean that exceed any value ever recorded in remote marine sediments – even higher than many areas directly contaminated by industrial releases.

IMAGE

Credit: Anni Glud, SDU

A newly released scientific paper in Nature Publishing’s Scientific Reports Journal has revealed unprecedented amounts of highly toxic mercury are deposited in the deepest trenches of the Pacific Ocean.

The study, a multi-national effort involving scientists from Denmark, Canada, Germany and Japan, reports the first-ever direct measurements of mercury deposition into one of the logistically most challenging environments to sample on Earth, and the deepest at eight to 10 kilometers under the sea.

Lead author Professor Hamed Sanei, Director of the Lithospheric Organic Carbon Laboratory (LOC) at the Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, stated the amount of mercury discovered in this area exceeds any value ever recorded in remote marine sediments, and is even higher than many areas directly contaminated by industrial releases.

“The bad news is that these high mercury levels may be representative of the collective increase in anthropogenic emissions of Hg into our oceans,” he said. “But the good news is that ocean trenches act as a permanent dump, and so we can expect the mercury that does end up there will be buried for many millions of years. Plate tectonics will carry these sediments deep into the earth’s upper mantle”.

“But even as mercury is being removed from the biosphere, it remains quite alarming how much mercury has ended up in the ocean trenches. This may be an indicator of the overall health of our oceans.”

Co-author Dr. Peter Outridge, a research scientist with Natural Resources Canada and lead author of the United Nations’ Global Mercury Assessment, said: “The results of this research help fulfill a key knowledge gap in the mercury cycle, i.e. the true rate of mercury removal from the global environment into deep-ocean sediments.” He added, “We have shown that sediments in the ocean trenches are mercury accumulation ‘hotspots’, with mercury accumulation rates many times higher than were previously believed to be present.”

Co-author Ronnie Glud, Professor and Director of the Hadal Centre at the University of Southern Denmark, who was scientific leader of this multi-national expedition to the ocean trenches, said: “This paper calls for extensive additional sampling of the deep-ocean and in particular hadal trenches to support this preliminary work. Ultimately this will improve the accuracy of environmental mercury models and the management of global mercury pollution.”

###

Media Contact
Hamed Sanei
[email protected]

Original Source

http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-90459-1

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-90459-1

Tags: Earth ScienceEcology/EnvironmentGeology/SoilHydrology/Water ResourcesOceanographyPollution/Remediation
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Hidden “Superpowers” of Hibernators May Reside in Human DNA

Hidden “Superpowers” of Hibernators May Reside in Human DNA

July 31, 2025
Dietary Shifts Fueled Physical Evolution in Early Humans

Dietary Shifts Fueled Physical Evolution in Early Humans

July 31, 2025

Precision-Fermented Chicken Protein from Brewed Tested in Pet Food Trials

July 31, 2025

Leopard Seals Sing: Under-Ice Sounds Flow Like Nursery Rhymes

July 31, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Blind to the Burn

    Overlooked Dangers: Debunking Common Myths About Skin Cancer Risk in the U.S.

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Dr. Miriam Merad Honored with French Knighthood for Groundbreaking Contributions to Science and Medicine

    46 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 12
  • Study Reveals Beta-HPV Directly Causes Skin Cancer in Immunocompromised Individuals

    37 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 9
  • Engineered Cellular Communication Enhances CAR-T Therapy Effectiveness Against Glioblastoma

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Unlocking Savings: The Solution to Reducing Your Water Bill May Be Right at Your Doorstep

CCNY Researchers Identify Possible Chemotherapy-Linked Cognitive Changes in Cancer Survivors

Rice Theoretical Physicist Illuminates Rare High-Field Phase in Superconductivity Research

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.