Toxic metals taint ancient dust

From San Francisco, at the 2001 fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union

A new study of dust lofted to Antarctica suggests that significant amounts of trace metals coated dust grains long before industries began loading the atmosphere with such pollutants.

Blowing dust in the American Southwest often carries large amounts of lead, cadmium, and arsenic. Yet those elements are minor constituents of Earth’s crust, says Todd K.