Snow at Highest Elevations No Longer Pure
The pure white snow atop the Andes Mountains may not be so pure after all. Scientists have found traces of toxic pollutants called PCBs in snow samples taken from Aconcagua Mountain, the highest peak in the Americas.
“The shrinking of the glaciers could lead to the pollutants stored in the glacier snow being carried down with the meltwater,” said Roberto Quiroz, now at the EULA Chile Environmental Sciences Center. (He completed the work while at IIQAB, the Spanish research institute for environmental chemistry, in Barcelona, Spain.)
Since the meltwater is used for agriculture and drinking, contaminants in the water could pose a health risk.