Peat bogs, lead

Adipocere formation has been observed in a variety of burial environments, including lead-lined coffins (Mant 1987), peat bogs (Evershed 1992), ice glaciers (Mayer, Reiter, and Bereuter 1997), and submerged locations (Kahana et al. 1999), and consequently numerous principles governing its... 

Shotyk W., Cheburkin A. K., Appleby P. G., Erankhauser A., and Kramers J. D. (1996) Two thousand years of atmospheric arsenic, antimony, and lead deposition recorded in an ombrotrophic peat bog profile. Jura Mountains, Switzerland. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 145, El -E7. 

Lead emissions When Rome was at its peak in lead production, it produced 80 000 metric tons every year. In studies of changes in atmospheric composition throughout history, researchers measured residues of lead from ancient Rome and Greece foimd in British peat bogs and in Swedish lake sediments. 

Temporal trends of the ambient concentration and deposition flux of particulate trace metals are now available for various sites (Pirrone etal. 1995 Var etal. 2000 Kemp 2002). From their measurements at seven urban sites across the metropolitan area of Detroit in the 1982-1992 time period, Pirrone et al. (1995) reported downward trends for Fe, Pb, Cr, Cd and Be, and an upward trend for Zn, Ni and Hg. As was reported for lead concentrations in ice layers (Boutron et al. 1995) and peat bogs (Shotyk et al. 1996), a significant reduction of the Pb content in airborne particulate matter was observed in the past two decades at different urban sites in Denmark (Kemp 2002). 

Shotyk W, Weiss D, Heisterkamp M, Cheburkin A, Appleby P and Adams F (2002) New peat bog record of atmospheric lead pollution in Switzerland ... 

Fig. 6 Lead pollution (Pb) recorded in two European cores. In a the Pb pollution accumulation in a peat bog near Manchester, England is shown (after Le Roux et al. 2004), while in b Pb pollution accumulation in Koltjam Lake, central Sweden is shown (after Brannvall et al. 1999)...

Following the decline of the western Roman Empire, Pb production continued, but at a much reduced pace, as witnessed by sediments and peat bogs [75]. However, the atmospheric Pb flux did not reach background values therefore, Pb continued to be mined and refined, especially in Asia [76]. Even at this time in Europe, Pb continued to be used for glass making and ceramic glazes [77]. Lead was needed for the cames of the stained glass windows of churches and cathedrals [53] the abundance of these windows in Europe today is a testimony to the usefulness of metallic Pb as a construction material. Lead was also used to... 

History is also being read by scientists studying ice cores from glaciers in Iceland. Now Swiss scientists have found that ancient peat bogs can furnish a reliable historical record. Geochemist Wilham Shotyk of the University of Bern has found a 15,000-year window on history by analyzing the lead content of core samples from a Swiss mountainside peat bog [Science 281 (1998) 1635]. Various parts of the core samples were dated by dating techniques (see Chapter 18, Section 18.4, for more information) and analyzed for their scandium and lead contents. 

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