Title
Alpine-ice record of bismuth pollution implies a major role of military use during World War II
Author
Michel Legrand
Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), CNRS, Université Grenoble Alpes
Joseph R. McConnell
Division of Hydrologic Sciences, Desert Research Institute
Gilles Bergametti
Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques, LISA, CNRS, Université de Paris, Université Paris Est Creteil
... show all
Abstract
Military conflicts result in local environmental damage, but documenting regional and larger scale impacts such as heavy metal pollution has proven elusive. Anthropogenic emissions of bismuth (Bi) include coal burning and various commodity productions but no emission estimates over the past century exist. Here we used Bi measurements in ice cores from the French Alps to show evidence of regional-scale Bi pollution concurrent with the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Tracers of the main sources of Bi emissions measured in the same ice—coal-burning, steel- and aluminum-industry, alloy and other metal processing—indicate a major, previously undocumented additional emissions source that we attribute to military activities between 1935 and 1945 Common Era (CE) in western Europe. These include the use of bismuth for low-melting point alloys for shells, thin-walled aluminum alloy aircraft oil, and munitions.
Keywords
Atmospheric chemistryEnvironmental sciences
Object type
Language
English [eng]
Persistent identifier
Appeared in
Title
Scientific Reports
Volume
13
ISSN
2045-2322
Issued
2023
Publication
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Version type
Date issued
2023
Access rights
Rights
Rights statement
© The Author(s) 2023
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