Fig.1. British sailors towing warships toward the besieged city of Canton in 1841 during the First Opium War (Credit: Edward Hodges Cree) |
Since industrialization, mercury levels in our oceans have tripled. This toxic heavy metal is one of many pollutants that can be seen in environmental records as a testament to human activities in the past. A recent article published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology found a new type of environmental record that measures mercury levels in the seawater through time.