title: Historical change of mercury pollution in remote Yongle archipelago, South China Sea.
abstract: We collected three ornithogenic coral sand sedimentary profiles from Jinyin Island, Jinqing Island and Guangjin Island of Yongle archipelago, South China Sea and reconstructed the deposition flux of anthropogenic Hg over the past 700 years in the study area. On the whole, the anthropogenic Hg flux is relatively low; it remained at a low level before the Industrial Revolution with a small peak at about 1450-1550 AD, which may record the enhanced metallurgy activity in Ming Dynasty of China. During the 20th century, the deposition flux of anthropogenic Hg increased rapidly, but two troughs occurred during the periods around 1940s and 1970s, corresponding to the economic depression caused by World War II, Civil War in China (1945-1949), and the Culture Revolution (1966-1976) in China. Since the 1970s the deposition flux of anthropogenic Hg has been persistently increasing, apparently the result of fast economic development in East and Southeast Asia countries around South China Sea.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Polar Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, PR China. ycx@ustc.edu.cn
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Liqiang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Qianqian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Liguang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Yuhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yuhan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000737:chemistry*; D002681:China; D057894:Coral Reefs; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D049668:History, 15th Century; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000266:history / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D008628:Mercury