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Oh, we've got quite some of that to go around, too. Wars are good for creating further problems down the line. In the closing months of WWII, the German sub U-
by lb1lf 5y ago
Oh, we've got quite some of that to go around, too. Wars are good for creating further problems down the line.
In the closing months of WWII, the German sub U-864 was sunk just off the island of Fedje in south-western Norway; among its cargo was 67 tons of mercury and scientific personnel - it was on its way to Japan to aid in the war effort.
The quicksilver is still there, slowly seeping out of the wreckage; good thing (as such things go...) quicksilver is heavy and insoluble in water. With any luck it seeps into the seabed before any marine life ingests it to find it is not insoluble in fat and tissue.
- nate_meurer 5y agoAnother problem-- probably a much bigger one-- is the huge amount of mercury fulminate used in munitions throughout much of the 20th century. It's much more soluble and dispersible than native mercury, and there's a lot more of it in weapons dumps.