[Aztlan] Mercury traces expose Inca mining boom

[Mario Cabrejos]

Nature
Published online 18 May 2009
doi:10.1038/news.2009.488 

Mercury traces expose Inca mining boom
Peruvian lake sediments reveal extensive activity of past civilizations at 'mine of death'.
Daniel Cressey 
Evidence of massive mining of mercury ores in South America by the Spanish, Incas and others before them has been extracted from the bottom of Peruvian lakes.

Mines in the Huancavelica region of present-day Peru have long yielded cinnabar ore, or mercury sulphide.

Comments

Did the researchers look to see if there was a correlation between mercury in the cores and pH/total organic carbon(TOC) to evaluate possible transport of the mercury within the soil column? Also, do they plan to speciate the mercury and the redox potential of the soils? Ijaz S. Jamall, Ph.D., DABT Risk-Based Decisions, Inc., Sacramento, California 

    a.. 19 May, 2009 
    b.. Posted by: Ijaz Jamall