Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Pre-industrial atmospheric lead contamination detected in Swedish lake sediments

Nature volume 368, pages 323–326 (1994)Cite this article

Abstract

DESPITE evidence from Greenland ice cores for pre-industrial atmospheric trace-metal contamination1,2 it is commonly assumed that air pollution in remote areas is a recent problem caused by industrial activities, fossil-fuel burning and emissions from motor vehicles. Here we report analyses of lake sediments from Sweden showing that atmospheric lead deposition increased above back-ground levels more than 2,600 years ago. There was a small, but marked lead deposition peak about 2,000 years ago, and a more significant increase that began 1,000 years ago and accelerated during the nineteenth and particularly the twentieth centuries, with a deposition maximum at about ad 1970. Before the nineteenth century industrialization, lead concentrations in lake sediments from southern Sweden had already reached 10–30 times previous background levels as a result of atmospheric deposition. We suggest that this pre-industrial airborne pollution was derived from extensive production and use of lead in Europe, starting with the Greek and Roman cultures3,4. The cumulative deposition from anthropogenic sources in pre-industrial times (∼600 bc to ad 1800) was at least as large as the cumulative deposition during the industrial period (ad 1800 to the present).

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Murozumi, M., Chow, T. Y. & Patterson, C. C. Geochim. cosmochim. Acta 33, 1247–1294 (1969).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Boutron, C. F. & Görlach, U. in Metal Speciation in the Environment (eds Brockaert, J. A. C., Gücer, S. & Adams, F.) 137–151 (NATO ASI Ser. G 23, Springer, Berlin, 1990).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  3. Settle, D. M. & Patterson, C. C. Science 207, 1167–1176 (1980).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Nriagu, J. O. Lead and Lead Poisoning in Antiquity (Wiley, New York, 1983).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Dörr, H. & Münnich, K. O. Wat. Air Soil Pollut. 57–58, 809–818 (1991).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Lazerte, B., Evans, D. & Grands, P. Sci. tot. Envir. 87/88, 209–221 (1989).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Livett, E. Adv. ecol. Res. 18, 65–177 (1988).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Lindberg, S. E. & Turner, R. R. Wat. Air Soil Pollut. 39, 123–156 (1988).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Borg, H. & Johansson, K. Wat. Air Soil Pollut. 47, 427–440 (1989).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Bedömningsgrunder för Sjöar och Vattendrag: Klassificering av Vattenkemi samt Metaller i Sediment och Organismer (Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Solna, 1990).

  11. Nringu, J. O. Environment 32, 7–11 (1990).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Shirahata, H., Elias, R. W., Patterson, C. C. & Koide, M. Geochim. cosmochim. Acta 44, 149–162 (1980).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Forshell, H. Theses and Papers in Archaeology Vol B2 1–189 (Archaeological Research Laboratory, Stockholm University, 1992).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Renberg, I., Korsman, T. & Birks, H. J. B. Mature 362, 824–827 (1993).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Renberg, I. Boreas 10, 255–258 (1981).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Renberg, I. J. Paleolimnol. 6, 167–170 (1991).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Olsson, I. U. in Handbook of Holocene Palaeoecology and Palaeohydrology (ed. Berglund, B. E.) 273–312 (Wiley, Chichester, 1986).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Stuiver, M. & Reimer, P. J. Radiocarbon 35, 215–230 (1993).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Wik, M. & Renberg, I. Ambio 20, 289–292 (1991).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health, University of Umeå, S-901 87, Umeå, Sweden

    Ingemar Renberg

  2. Department of Ecological Botany, University of Umeå, S-901 87, Umeå, Sweden

    Maria Wik Persson

  3. Environmental Research Laboratory, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, S-901 83, Umeå, Sweden

    Ove Emteryd

Authors
  1. Ingemar Renberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Maria Wik Persson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ove Emteryd
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Renberg, I., Persson, M. & Emteryd, O. Pre-industrial atmospheric lead contamination detected in Swedish lake sediments. Nature 368, 323–326 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/368323a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/368323a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing