Industrial chemicals found in the ocean at a depth of 8 km
Miscellaneous / / April 18, 2023
Substances that people do not use for decades continue to pollute even remote corners of the planet.
In a new study, published in Nature Communications, scientists talked about an unpleasant discovery in Chile Trench. In 2018, researchers took 50 sediment samples from sites ranging in depth from 2,500 to 8,000 meters. And in each of them traces were found PCB - synthetic chemicals, which at the end of the 20th century were classified as persistent organic pollutants, and production was stopped almost all over the world.
PCBs were banned when they were found to cause immune system problems and hormonal imbalances. However, the rate of their decomposition depends on environmental conditions, and in water it slows down. Once in the water, chemicals bind to organic matter and gradually settle to the bottom. That is why they can be found even today.
The content of chemicals is said to be relatively low - but significant, given the depth at which the samples were taken. IN
press release The authors of the study note that no one expected to find traces of chemical contamination in such a place.So far, scientists have little information about the impact of such pollution on deep-sea ecosystems. More research will be needed to find out how common this is (for example, can one find similar finds in the Japan Trench at a similar depth) and whether it has had an impact on the food chain of ocean dwellers organisms.
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