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Migration of Trace Metals in Snow

Nature volume 241, pages 447–448 (1973)Cite this article

Abstract

SEVERAL workers1–4 have established that elemental mercury vapour is present in soils overlying mineralized bedrock, and the vapour can be used in prospecting for base metal sulphide deposits5. It is therefore possible that mercury vapour will emanate from soils into overlying snows and that the trace metals in fallen snow can be used to indicate the presence of underlying, or at least nearby, mineralization. Kolotov and colleagues6 have already reported the presence of such dispersion aureoles for zinc, copper and lead, as total heavy metals, in snow above a deposit of tin ore, but they ascribe the phenomenon to falling snow carrying down dust clouds which were thought to exist over the deposit.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geochemistry Section, Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    I. R. JONASSON

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  1. I. R. JONASSON
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JONASSON, I. Migration of Trace Metals in Snow. Nature 241, 447–448 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/241447a0

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