Abstract
NATURAL enrichment has been reported for Zn, Cd, Pb and S in Greenland snow dated between AD 1170 and the 1800s using Al as the reference element for the Earth's crust1. In other studies, not on the determination of enrichment, other elements were analysed in polar ice which had been deposited before man's disturbance of the natural atmospheric composition2,3. Data on Al or other crustal reference elements such as Si and Sc were unavailable for these latter ices. However, their Mn content had been determined, and we show here by the analysis of recent precipitation in the Alaskan Arctic that Mn also serves as an indicator of the weathered lithospheric dust component. This enables the data to be re-examined to assess the degree of enrichment of yet another group of elements: Hg, As, Sb, Se and Cu. This evaluation indicates that the atmosphere is naturally enriched from several units to several orders of magnitude above average crustal abundances, with the elements in the approximate order: Na<Cu⩽Zn<As<Sb⩽Cd⩽S<Se<Hg.
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