The Grand Canyon is polluted with unsafe levels of toxic metals

According to a myriad of studies performed by the US Geological Survey and published within the journal Environmental Toxicity and Chemistry, an unhealthy amount of mercury and selenium are concentrated within the Grand Canyon and this might disrupt the food web for fish and wildlife in the area. As per Discovery News reports these chemicals are now found in the wildlife at the Grand Canyon, including main parts of the canyon’s food webs could cause huge problems. This was abundant in the fish, invertebrates, and minnows along this region.

Scientists have recently discovered that high levels of mercury and selenium exist in Grand Canyon fauna. Mercury pollution however, originates from far away coal burning, electrical power plant emissions and other man made sources.

Researchers collected data from six spots along the Colorado River, which slices through the canyon at the bottom. They measured the selenium and mercury levels in fish and other species.

One of the country’s most famed natural landmarks, the mighty Grand Canyon, is surprisingly polluted.

Scientists say the contaminants’ presence is a reminder that human activity can have far-reaching effects – even in a remote and relatively well-protected ecosystem like the Grand Canyon’s Colorado River.

“The good news is that concentrations of mercury in rainbow trout were very low in the popular Glen Canyon sport fishery, and all of the large rainbow trout analyzed from the Grand Canyon were also well below the risk thresholds for humans”, said the study’s co-author, Ted Kennedy.

The method through which the mercury was crossing the state border and making its way south to the Grand Canyon in Arizona from Lake Powell, in Colorado, surprised researchers and readers alike.

Mercury pollution can make its way to oceans and waterways, contaminating fish and seafood, and accumulating in higher concentrations as it makes its way up the food chain. Instead, the researchers are finding high levels of mercury in everything from algae to bugs to fish downstream.