Varekamp, Students Chart Mercury Pollution in Cove

A recent piece in The Hartford Courant details the work done documenting more than 300 years of pollution in a local cove by Johann Varekamp, professor of earth and environmental sciences, and his graduate students. The study examined at Wethersfield Cove, which is located just south of Hartford off the Connecticut River and was cut off from the river by a violent storm in 1692. The researchers found high levels of mercury, which was used extensively by industrial manufacturers until the early 20th century. The study resulted in a paper titled “Wethersfield Cove, Hartford, CT – A 300 Year Urban Pollution Record,” which Varekamp presented at the annual national meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA) this month in Minneapolis.