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<DIV id=slugline jQuery1394160295631="4"><CITE><ABBR class=slug-jnl-abbrev
title=Science>Science</ABBR><SPAN class=slug-pub-date itemprop="datePublished">
7 March 2014: </SPAN><BR><SPAN class=slug-vol>Vol. 343 </SPAN><SPAN
class=slug-issue>no. 6175 </SPAN><SPAN class=slug-pages>p. 1070 </SPAN><BR>DOI:
<SPAN class=slug-doi
title=10.1126/science.343.6175.1070>10.1126/science.343.6175.1070
</SPAN></CITE></DIV>
<DIV class="article summary-view nonresearch-content"
jQuery1394160295631="7" itemprop="articleBody"><SPAN
class=highwire-journal-article-marker-start></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV id=article-title-1 itemprop="headline"><FONT size=5><STRONG>Chemical Atlas
Shows Where Seas Are Tainted—And Where They Can Bloom</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class="article summary-view nonresearch-content"
jQuery1394160295631="7" itemprop="articleBody">
<DIV id=contrib-1 class=last><SPAN class=name><A class=name-search
href="http://www.sciencemag.org/search?author1=David+Malakoff&sortspec=date&submit=Submit">David
Malakoff</A></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV id=abstract-2 class="section summary">
<H2><FONT size=3>Summary</FONT></H2>
<P id=p-2>The new atlas, which shows the distribution of important trace metals
and other substances, is the first product of GEOTRACES, a $300 million
international effort. It draws on careful measurements from more than 30,000
seawater samples drawn from nearly 800 locations. One map, for example, shows
the distribution of minute trace levels of the toxic metal lead, once a major
component of gasoline. In the Atlantic Ocean, GEOTRACES researchers show that
lead-tainted water that was once at the surface has now sunk some 1000 meters,
creating a kind of time capsule recording past pollution. But the map also shows
that contamination in continuing, with relatively high trace levels entering the
Atlantic from the Indian Ocean, which is bordered by nations where cars still
burn leaded gasoline. Overall, however, lead levels in the Atlantic have been
dropping since the United States and Europe banned leaded gasoline decades ago,
and the levels pose no threat to humans or wildlife.
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