The researchers have now discovered high concentrations of lead in the open ocean, as well as closer to population centers such as Singapore. They are presenting their results this week at the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference in Montreal. Graduate student Yolanda Echegoyen-Sanz and postdocs Jong-Mi Lee and Intan Nurhati contributed to the research.
In analyzing their samples, the researchers also came upon an odd measurement: In samples taken off the coast of Singapore, they found a type of lead they did not expect in this region of the world. While most countries around the Indian Ocean used leaded gasoline produced in Europe and the Middle East, the lead found near Singapore matches the kind once used in North American gasoline.
“It’s almost as if Singapore had gone off and imported a whole lot of lead from the United States,” Boyle says. “It doesn’t make any sense why they would do that, because there are more local sources that presumably would be cheaper, more economical.” Full story
