Scientists studying hydrothermal vents found lead from a mine in Australia at the site of an underwater volcano in Italy, thousands of miles away. How did they know where the lead came from? They used a state-of-the-art Multi-Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer to precisely measure the presence and amounts of the four lead isotopes found on the Marsili Seamount, and discovered that the ratios found didn’t match any nearby lead sources, or those from anywhere in Europe. Most likely the lead was mined in Australia and shipped to Europe, where it was added to gasoline, burned by cars and emitted into the air. Pretty complicated. You can check out the rest of the article from the University of Florida.
