‘Something’s Really Happening Here’: Mining Is Contaminating Snow in the Northern Rockies

During the winter, storms layer the Rocky Mountains with snow that supplies the Western United States’ communities with water during the summer. But snow isn’t the only thing that storms deposit on those mountains. A team of researchers has revealed that the winter storms that cover the Rocky Mountains with snow also carry contaminants from mines. Their work, detailed in a study published March 26 in the journal Environmental Pollution, sheds light on the ecological consequences of mining activities and how environmental processes circulate metal pollutants. Led by Monica Arienzo, a researcher in the Desert Research Institute’s Division of Hydrologic Sciences, the team investigated contamination levels of mercury, cadmium, zinc, and antimony in snow across the Rocky Mountains. “Metal pollution in the Rockies is relatively understudied,” Arienzo said in a Desert Research Institute statement. “Other studies have focused on certain parts, so the fact that we have this transect from Mon ... Read full article.