The smelters and the tree—an environmental story. (31st March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Eby, Nelson
• Is Part Of: Geology today. Volume 36:Number 2(2020)
• Page Start: 59
• Page End: 63
• Publication Date: 2020-03-31
• Subjects: Geology -- Periodicals; 551
• DOI: 10.1111/gto.12302
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0266-6979

Abstract

Abstract : Over the past 150 years a chestnut oak growing on a ridge above the Palmerton zinc smelters, Pennsylvania, USA, has recorded environmental changes. Changes in chemistry measured in a tree‐ring core from this chestnut oak signal the start of smelting in the late 1800s, the change in ore feed during the 1920s and 1930s, and the positive impact of pollution abatement efforts. Since the cessation of smelting in the 1980s, many of the metal concentrations have returned to pre‐smelter backgrounds. As evidenced by the Palmerton study, tree ring records can be used as a tool for environmental forensics.