A Gold Mining Area in Perulu Amazon
Ernesto Benavides/AFP through Getty Images
Mercury pollution accumulated in the trees can offer a new way to keep tabs in destructive gold mining operations in Amazon rainforest.
“Potentially we can see if the mining has started to increase, or he says. Jacqueline Gerson At the University of Cornell in New York.
Most small-scale gold mining operations are separated from the ore by adding liquid mercury and then burning the mixture, leaving a large amount of mercury-strong neurotoxin-air. These mining operations, many of which are illegal, represent the largest source of mercury…
