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Global-scale patterns in anthropogenic Pb contamination reconstructed from natural archives

Overview of attention for article published in Environmental Pollution, February 2016
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Title
Global-scale patterns in anthropogenic Pb contamination reconstructed from natural archives
Published in
Environmental Pollution, February 2016
DOI 10.1016/j.envpol.2016.02.006
Pubmed ID
Authors

Samuel K. Marx, Shaqer Rashid, Nicola Stromsoe

Abstract

During the past two centuries metal loads in the Earth's atmosphere and ecosystems have increased significantly over pre-industrial levels. This has been associated with deleterious effects to ecosystem processes and human health. The magnitude of this toxic metal burden, as well as the spatial and temporal patterns of metal enrichment, is recorded in sedimentary archives across the globe. This paper presents a compilation of selected Pb contamination records from lakes (n = 10), peat mires (n = 10) and ice fields (n = 7) from Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australia and the Northern and Southern Hemisphere polar regions. These records quantify changes in Pb enrichment in remote from source environments. The presence of anthropogenic Pb in the environment has a long history, extending as far back as the early to mid-Holocene in North America, Europe and East Asia. However, results show that Pb contamination in the Earth's environment became globally ubiquitous at the beginning of the Second Industrial Revolution (c.1850-1890 CE), after which the magnitude of Pb contamination increased significantly. This date therefore serves as an effective global marker for the onset of the Anthropocene. Current global average Pb enrichment rates are between 6 and 35 times background, however Pb contamination loads are spatially variable. For example, they are >100 times background in Europe and North America and 5-15 times background in Antarctica. Despite a recent decline in Pb loads in some regions, most notably Europe and North America, anthropogenic Pb remains highly enriched and universally present in global ecosystems, while concentrations are increasing in some regions (Australia, Asia and parts of South America and Antarctica). There is, however, a paucity of Pb enrichment records outside of Europe, which limits assessments of global contamination.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 104 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Colombia 1 <1%
Germany 1 <1%
Unknown 102 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 22 21%
Student > Bachelor 15 14%
Researcher 12 12%
Student > Master 10 10%
Professor 5 5%
Other 15 14%
Unknown 25 24%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Environmental Science 24 23%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 18 17%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 10 10%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 4 4%
Medicine and Dentistry 3 3%
Other 14 13%
Unknown 31 30%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 31 May 2016.
All research outputs
#17,302,400
of 25,394,764 outputs
Outputs from Environmental Pollution
#6,986
of 13,439 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#189,595
of 313,249 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Environmental Pollution
#83
of 171 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,394,764 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 21st percentile – i.e., 21% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 13,439 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.7. This one is in the 36th percentile – i.e., 36% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 313,249 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 30th percentile – i.e., 30% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 171 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 47th percentile – i.e., 47% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.