Once bound, the toxic metals are immobilized and pose little threat to the surrounding environment unless the peatland is disturbed, like from a wildfire.įire burns away the peat as the resulting smoke is carried on the breeze. Peat has a tremendous ability to capture and retain toxic metals by binding the metals to the peat itself through a process called adsorption. Wetlands have absorbed and stored these contaminants, holding them back from vulnerable aquatic ecosystems and saving humans from ingesting them. Human and industrial wastewater has, in places, added to this burden. Though humans have long burned bricks of peat in their homes, climate change and wetland draining are drying entire wetlands, transforming them into perfect fuel for huge smoky wildfires.Ĭenturies of fallout from industrial processes such as smelting has deposited toxic metals in wetlands hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away from their point of origin. As these deposits accumulate, they form peatlands.įor centuries, peat has been drained, dried and extracted for heating fuel where wood is scarce. Peat accumulates because perpetually sopping wetland conditions prevent the complete decomposition of dead vegetation. The soil in many wetlands is composed of dead and decaying vegetation known as peat. Now, however, a combination of human disruptions and ever increasing wildfires threaten to open these vaults, unleashing their long dormant toxic contents upon the world. These swampy vaults have quietly been trapping air and water pollution for thousands of years, protecting the world from some of the worst effects of lead, mercury, copper, nickel and other poisonous materials.
0 kommentar(er)
