open access

https://hdl.handle.net/2115/58018

Lead concentration and isotopic composition in the Pacific sclerosponge (Acanthochaetetes wellsi) reflects environmental lead pollution

英語

2014-04

Geological Society of America

Geology

42(4)

287-290

We measured Pb/Ca and Pb isotopes with high resolution in the high-Mg calcite skeleton of a Pacific sclerosponge (Acanthochaetetes wellsi) collected from the reef edge off the western coast of Kume Island (East China Sea), to investigate its potential to he used as a proxy for lead contamination in the environment, and atmospheric transportation and fallout over the last few decades. Skeletal Pb/Ca ranged from 58 to 1642 nmol/mol, 10x higher than that of the aragonite skeleton of Pacific corals, and 2.5x higher than that of the aragonite skeletons of Caribbean sclerosponges. The Pb/Ca timeseries recorded from 1967 through 2007 CE correspond to historical changes in atmospheric lead flux in anthropogenic aerosols. Pb isotopes (Pb-206/Pb-207 and Pb-208/Pb-207) in the sclerosponge skeleton document that the main source of lead emissions shifted from Japan (1970-1980 CE) to China (1995-2005 CE), as expected from the timing of legislation against the use of leaded gasoline in Japan and China. Our results indicate that the skeleton of the Pacific sclerosponge is a powerful proxy to monitor environmental lead pollution. Applying this methodology to long-living and/or fossil specimens could be useful in determining the interannual variability of atmospheric transport and dynamics over geologic time scales.

学術雑誌論文

Accepted Manuscript

0091-7613

1943-2682