{"id":28159,"date":"2024-08-23T19:30:26","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T14:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=28159"},"modified":"2024-08-30T16:30:07","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T11:00:07","slug":"mercury-bomb-in-arctic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/23-08-2024\/mercury-bomb-in-arctic","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Mercury bomb&#8217; in Arctic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Researchers studying sediment in Alaska&#8217;s Yukon River discovered that eroding permafrost is contributing mercury-laden sediments to the river.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In the Arctic, <strong>plants absorb mercury, then die and become part of the soil,<\/strong> which eventually freezes into permafrost.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Over thousands of years, mercury concentrations build up in the frozen soil until it thaws, an increasingly common occurrence due to climate change.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mercury amount in permafrost<\/strong> is more than the total of all oceans, soils, atmosphere and biosphere of the earth.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Scholars have warned the world of an impressive <strong>\u2018giant mercury bomb<\/strong>\u2019 that may soon explode.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The metal <strong>accumulates in the food chain <\/strong>specifically through people\u2019s customary diets of fish and game.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Permafrost?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Permafrost is essentially any ground that <strong>stays frozen <\/strong>\u2014 0 degree Celsius or lower \u2014 for at least two years straight.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is composed of \u201ca<strong> combination of soil, rocks, and sand<\/strong> that are held together by ice. The soil and ice in permafrost stay frozen all year long.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Although the ground remains perennially frozen, permafrost regions aren\u2019t always covered with snow.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>These permanently frozen grounds are often found in Arctic regions such as <strong>Greenland, Alaska (the United States), Canada, Russia, and Eastern Europe.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/docsz\/AD_4nXeUwy-qqtWHKdJIx7bZinkI4qmp0VnSWPyDKj1wM0dmk2XHYKM_LgbxS18T5S5S2dU5L2Bdjg_xrIJ65cttKFbPiZtRbQGS2wMX7gL5n6xB48WH48hd4tpli3eGD0bkBcfmr5l1E4qX2tNlMbqApgnJzKCc?key=VX6KN8drX22dyd7eWQwUOw\" alt=\"Permafrost\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Consequences of Melting of Permafrost<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Melting permafrost<strong> alters the habitat for plants and animals,<\/strong> potentially disrupting local ecosystems and threatening <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/biodiversity\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/biodiversity\/\"><strong>biodiversity<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Thawing permafrost causes the ground to become unstable, leading to the <strong>sinking or collapse of buildings<\/strong>, roads, pipelines, and other infrastructure.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Permafrost acts as a freezer for <strong>ancient bacteria and viruses.<\/strong> Thawing could potentially release these pathogens, posing a risk of new or<strong> re-emerging diseases.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>As permafrost thaws, organic matter trapped in the frozen ground decomposes, releasing <strong>carbon dioxide and methane<\/strong>. This process accelerates global warming.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background has-fixed-layout\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Mercury<\/strong><br>&#8211; Mercury is a naturally-occurring chemical element found in rock in the earth&#8217;s crust.<br>1. It is a<strong> shiny, silver-white metal<\/strong>, historically referred to as <strong>quicksilver<\/strong>, and is <strong>liquid<\/strong> at room temperature.&nbsp;<br>&#8211; <strong>Mercury is released<\/strong> into the atmosphere through <strong>natural processes<\/strong> such as weathering of rocks, volcanic eruptions, geothermal activities, forest fires, etc.<br>&#8211; <strong>Human activities,<\/strong> like burning of coal, oil and wood as fuel are responsible for much of the mercury that is released into the environment.&nbsp;<br>&#8211; <strong>Mercury has toxic effects<\/strong> on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, and on lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/science\/scientists-warn-of-mercury-bomb-in-arctic-melting-permafrost-poses-severe-environmental-risk\/articleshow\/112601586.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TOI<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers studying sediment in Alaska&#8217;s Yukon River discovered that eroding permafrost is contributing mercury-laden sediments to the river.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28159"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28550,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28159\/revisions\/28550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}