Geography 2011A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Mirex, Benzene, Methylmercury
20 Dec 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Pollutants: pesticides (ddt, dieldrin, petroleum and petroleum products, pcbs, dioxins, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, radioactive materials, metals leads, mercury, cadmium. Known these have been a concern just don"t know how many are out there. Chemical revolution has changed the way we live for the better but many unintended consequences. Phytoplankton 0. 025 parts/million in their tissues of the chemical: as you move up the food chain, ppm increases. When there"s buildups of toxins in animals see deformities, tumors, lack of reproduction: higher you are yup in the food chain, exposed more and more due to bioaccumulation therefore a higher change of these problems. Rivers leading into l. erie catching on fire because they are so contaminated. 15 things we are particularly concerned about: mercury - is converted to methylmercury and absorbed by a fish. Since fish eliminate mercury at a very slow rate, concentrations of this substance gradually increase.
