Dr. Michele Berto’ • Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics - Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy
For the first time, an ice core from the highest summit of the Eastern European Alps (Alto dell’Ortles glacier, 3905 m a.s.l) has been analyzed for trace elements, black carbon and conduc- tivity by means of a new melting and decontaminating system. The actual dating suggests that the Alto dell’Ortles ice core #1 spans the last 3000 years. Anthropogenic induced depositions were observed in the deep ice layers dating back to the Roman Empire period, when lead and copper mines were very active. Others anthropogenic contaminants were observed during the 10th century, at the onset of the Renaissance period, which was characterized by economic growth and important mining activities. After the Black Death plague of the 1300 AD, a reduction of trace metal deposition was observed. From the beginning of the 15th century a new increase<br>was detected for lead, antimony, arsenic, bismuth and silver, suggesting a contribution from the European silver mines. These depositions significantly decreased during the 17th century, when the American ores became more competitive and replaced the European ones. This study also generated the longest ever-recorded black carbon deposition reconstruction from an Alpine ice core. During the pre-industrial period, the black carbon concentrations were very low, and the observed variations correlate with lead and bismuth, suggesting a common emission source, such as coal combustion. A black carbon concentration increase was observed from the beginning of the 20th century, reaching two maximums during the 40s and the 60s, similarly to what was also observed for trace metals.
