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A survey reveals high methylmercury and polychlorinated biph...

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COMMENT 285960	2012-06-06 07:18 PM
The Zaca Fire -- second largest recorded fire in California at 250,000 acres -- burned the Cachuma watershed and also aerosolized over 100 years of Hg sequestered in vegetation. It has been well established that wildfires are a major source of mercury pollution in Western States where there are no coal plants. It could also be pollution from China. I've been told that the sport fish in Cachuma are stocked every year and aren't bottom feeders so they wouldn't accumulate Hg. Who knows? Bradley, W.W. (1918), Quicksilver resources of California Everhart, Donald Lough (1950b), Quicksilver deposits of the Cachuma district, Santa Barbara County, Egenhoff, Elizabeth Lee (1953) De Argento Vito: Historic documents on quicksilver and its recovery in California Holmes, G.H. (1965) Mercury in California. US Bureau of Mines Pemberton, H. Earl (1983), Minerals of California;
COMMENT 285954	2012-06-06 06:30 PM
Cinnabar is definitely the cause of the red rocks....and its in concentrations of around 3% from what i've previously read. It would be interesting to do a test of bass or trout in Cachuma, and compare them to the fish caught out at sea. Cachuma would be off the charts if the culprit is the local Mercury Mines(Sunbird Quicksilver mine), which i don't believe for a moment!
COMMENT 285912	2012-06-06 03:57 PM
The mercury is likely from atmospheric deposition. Erosion from rock, where mercury is present as HgS, is extremely slow. The red in the rocks of the sespe formation is iron oxide, not cinnabar. Yes mercury is abundant here, but it is found in deposits and veins not throughout the rock.
COMMENT 285960	2012-06-06 11:52 AM
This is from the fact that the coastal mountain range, running from the southern end of Santa Barbara County to Santa Cruz, is one of the world's largest natural mercury deposits. There is a history of commercial mercury mining extending from the gold rush to the 1980s in San Jose (New Almaden mercury mine, one of the world's largest) and throughout the Cachuma watershed and above Gibraltar Dam. Ever wonder what makes Red Rock's rock red? It's cinnabar.
COMMENT 285813	2012-06-06 11:30 AM
This is from all the energy efficient car batteries and light bulbs that we are now using.

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