Pollutants that were outlawed in the 1970s have found their way into the deepest place on Earth. Find out more here!
New research has shown that the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on earth, more than 10 kilometers below sea level, is filled with more than 50 times the amount of toxic chemicals that flood the most polluted rivers in China.
The discovery started when Alan Jamieson of Newcastle University in the UK captured some small crustaceans from the trench to find out more about them. What he found was that the crustaceans themselves were filled with toxic pollutants, indicating the same of their environment.
Jamieson’s team identified two main types of toxic chemicals known as POPs, persistant organic pollutants, which do not break down in the environment and were outlawed in the 1970s. These pollutants seem to have reached the deepest parts of the ocean as plastics and dead animals killed by them fell downward, drawn ever deeper into the earth’s depths. However, that is not surprising. What was surprising was the amount of POPs found there.
Other scientists are alarmed at Jamieson’s findings, as well. Marine ecologist Katherine Dafforn at the University of New South Wales in Australia commented on the study and its import for the world, saying:
Jamieson echoed Dafforn’s sentiment, saying:
So, now, what we want to know is…
