Advertisement

Updated February 12th, 2020 at 14:34 IST

Industrial Revolution contaminated Himalayas years before a person ever set foot

Industrial Revolution polluted the glaciers with toxic byproducts of burning coal in Europe years before humans arrived at the Himalaya hiking the summits.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
Industrial Revolution
| Image:self
Advertisement

A scientific study reportedly claims that the Central Himalayas glaciers have been contaminated by the humans during the late 18th century at the beginning of the industrial revolution. The research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that Dasuopu glacier was polluted with the toxic byproducts from burning coal in Europe hundreds of years ago.

Paolo Gabrielli, lead author of the study and a principal investigator and research scientist at The Ohio State University Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center and the School of Earth Sciences, revealed in his research on publications site that the Industrial Revolution was a revolution in the use of energy and so the use of coal combustion also started to cause emissions that were transported by winds up to the Himalayas.

Read Scientists Reveal Extent Of Lima River Pollution

Read Scientists Warn Half-a-million Insect Species Face Extinction

Several toxic metals in ice

He stated that the research team that published this study was part of a larger international team that traveled to Dasuopu in 1997 to drill ice cores from the glacier. The cores provide a record of snowfall, atmospheric circulation and other environmental changes over time and the Byrd Center had one of the largest collections of ice cores in the world.

He said in his research that the scientists discovered higher-than-natural levels of several toxic metals, including cadmium, chromium, nickel, and zinc, in the ice starting at around 1780, the very start of the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom. Those metals were all byproducts of burning coal, a key part of the industry at the end of the 18th century and throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, he added.

According to the reports, Dasuopu, located on Shishapangma at 23,600 feet above sea level is the highest-altitude site in the world where scientists have obtained a climate record from an ice core. It is one of the world's 14 tallest mountains, which are all located in the Himalayas and the analysis serves as the most intense ice core contamination records.

Read Scientists Discover Mysterious Repetitive Radio Signals From Deep Space

Read Scientists Discover Small Virus With No Previously Identified Genes

Advertisement

Published February 12th, 2020 at 14:34 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending Quicks

former dsp shailendra singh revealed criminal activity of Mukhtar Ansari
5 minutes ago
RBI
11 minutes ago
Lok Sabha Elections 2024 LIVE
12 minutes ago
TCS 'cash for jobs' scam
18 minutes ago
IBL Finance IPO
22 minutes ago
Congress Press Conference
22 minutes ago
Virat Kohli keeps a close watch on Gautam Gambhir
23 minutes ago
Good Friday
29 minutes ago
Life Insurance Corporation
29 minutes ago
Kerala Nirmal Lottery Sambad Friday Result
33 minutes ago
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo