historyfilia:Rome polluted the Greenland ice cores even befeore the Industrial RevolutionWorld produ
historyfilia:Rome polluted the Greenland ice cores even befeore the Industrial RevolutionWorld production of lead, estimated from Greenland ice cores, peaked in the 1st century AD, and strongly declined thereafter. World production would only surpass Roman levels in the middle of the 18th century. These are the results of an investigation by Sungmin Hong(et al.) and reveal some very interesting facts about Rome’s economy. The authors establish the following: Analysis of the Greenland ice core covering the period from 3000 to 500 years ago—the Greek, Roman, Medieval and Renaissance times—shows that lead is present at concentrations four times as great as natural values from about 2500 to 1700 years ago (500 B.C. to 300 A.D.). These results show that Greek and Roman lead and silver mining and smelting activities polluted the middle troposphere of the Northern Hemisphere on a hemispheric scale two millennia ago, long before the Industrial Revolution. Cumulative lead fallout to the Greenland Ice Sheet during these eight centuries was as high as 15 percent of that caused by the massive use of lead alkyl additives in gasoline since the 1930s. Pronounced lead pollution is also observed during Medieval and Renaissance times. You can find the article here. -- source link
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