An ice sheet in the southwestern region of Greenland is releasing huge amounts of mercury into nearby rivers. The discovery is worrying as the toxic metal can accumulate in the marine animals that are a key dietary component for local Indigenous communities.

Mercury is a naturally occurring metal found in some rocks. As glaciers slowly flow downhill, they grind up the underlying rocks, potentially releasing mercury into their meltwater.

To find out whether this is occurring in Greenland, Jon Hawkings at Florida State University and his colleagues analysed meltwater flowing from the southwestern margin of the Greenland ice sheet.

Hawkings and his team completed two expeditions to Greenland in 2015 and 2018, collecting water samples from three meltwater rivers that receive substantial amounts of water from the Greenland ice sheet – up to 800 cubic metres per second. The samples were filtered to remove any sediment and kept safe from contamination. Then the researchers analysed the mercury concentration in each one.

“[Mercury concentrations in this region] are at least 10 times higher than in an average river,” says Hawkings. This means the meltwater is as rich in mercury as some highly polluted rivers – except in this case the mercury hasn’t been introduced into the water directly by humans. “Although this mercury isn’t introduced by humans, the ice sheet is melting much faster as a result of climate change,” says Hawkings.

An ice sheet in the southwestern region of Greenland releases huge amounts Quantities of mercury in nearby rivers. The discovery is worrying since the poisonous metal can accumulate in marine animals, which are a key Nutritional component for local indigenous communities.

Mercury is a naturally occurring metal found in some rocks. How Glaciers slowly flow downhill, they grind the rock below, possibly releasing mercury into their meltwater.

To find out if this happens in Greenland, Jon Hawkings at Florida State University and his colleagues analyzed flowing meltwater from the southwestern edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Hawkings and his team completed two expeditions to Greenland in 2015 and 2018 water samples from three meltwater rivers that receive significant amounts of water from the Greenland ice sheet - up up to 800 cubic meters per second. The samples were filtered to remove them any sediment and protected from contamination. Then the researchers analyzed the mercury concentration in each.

“[Mercury concentrations in this region] are at least ten times higher than an average river, ”says Hawkings. That is, the meltwater is as rich in mercury as some heavily polluted rivers - except here if the mercury was not brought directly into the water People. “Although this mercury is not introduced by humans, the ice is The sheet metal melts much faster due to climate change, ”says Hawkings.

https://www.spektrum.de/news/schwermetall-quecksilber-in-gro...

As far as I can tell, (1) there's absolutely nothing suspicious about the ML translation into English, and (2) there's no easy or reliable way to find the original article, given only the translation.

This bizarre query can find it (as the 3rd result). I don't think any "natural" query can.

https://www.google.com/search?q="42"+"2015"+"2018"+"Nature+G...

For convenience:

"Melting glaciers in southwest Greenland wash up to 42 tons of mercury per year into the surrounding rivers. That is around ten percent of the total mercury transported by rivers into the ocean worldwide, reports a team led by Jon R. Hawkings from Florida State University in Tallahassee. The poisonous heavy metal presumably comes from the rock at the bottom of the glacier, writes the working group in "Nature Geoscience". In 2015 and 2018, she examined three rivers that carry meltwater from the ice cap to the sea. The mercury concentrations there were at least ten times higher than in an average river - and comparable to waters that were heavily polluted by industry."

"In Greenland, however, humans are only indirectly involved. Measurements of meltwater from the top of the glacier show that the metal did not come from there. That would have indicated that it would have been deposited from the air and thus from technical sources. But the mercury probably comes from the rock under the glacier. Greenland's rock is gradually being crushed by the slowly creeping ice. This process also releases ore deposits, and thus metals such as mercury. However, people are not completely uninvolved. As a result of climate change, Greenland's ice is melting faster and faster, and more meltwater is getting under the glacier and leaching out the crushed ore."

"The finding shows that natural sources of heavy metal could also react sensitively to climate change, writes the Hawkings team. In addition, such sources are much more difficult to reduce than industrial emissions. Mercury is a particularly problematic environmental toxin because it is so toxic and primarily accumulates in the food chain in the form of methylmercury. The mercury from the glacier is particularly dangerous for indigenous communities, where fish and other marine animals make up a high proportion of the food. But in Germany too, fish contains considerable amounts of mercury compounds, primarily tuna, shark and eel. Small children and pregnant women should therefore avoid such fish."