Poluição por mercúrio em aterros urbanos do período colonial no extremo sul do Brasil Mercury pollution in land reclamation fills from the colonial period of the Brazil's southernmost

<abstract language="eng">Land reclamation fills in the city of Rio Grande (RS) are polluted by mercury with concentrations ranging from 0.3 to 18.7 mg kg-1. The level of Hg pollution decreases from the oldest landfills of 18th century to recent ones. Mercury distribution along vertic...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Luiz Paulo de Moura Fragomeni, Ari Roisenberg, Nicolai Mirlean
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Química 2010-01-01
Series:Química Nova
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-40422010000800002
Description
Summary:<abstract language="eng">Land reclamation fills in the city of Rio Grande (RS) are polluted by mercury with concentrations ranging from 0.3 to 18.7 mg kg-1. The level of Hg pollution decreases from the oldest landfills of 18th century to recent ones. Mercury distribution along vertical profiles resembles the same for copper, lead, and zinc, what allow supposing that mercury distribution has an autochthonous character. It is suggested that the principal source of mercury pollution was the activities related to animal skin and fair hair treatment, using ancient technology known as "carroting". Similar scenario of environmental risk could be met in other Brazilian cities with similar colonization history.
ISSN:0100-4042
1678-7064