The scientists inferred lead pollution levels by analysing sediment cores taken from the Trajanic harbour basin at Portus, a major port of imperial Rome, and a canal that connected the port to the Tiber river.
Almost one in five deaths in the US can be linked to lead pollution, with even low levels of exposure potentially fatal, researchers have said.
The new research shows that lead from mining and smelting — which has occurred for thousands of years — was detectable well before the Industrial Revolution, and that only when those activities were essentially halted by the plague did lead pollution decline to natural levels.
Although Earth's age, still accepted to be 4.6 billion years, as Dr. Patterson established in 1953, and its level of lead pollution might seem to be disparate subjects, both findings emerged from Dr. Patterson's interest in a single area of study: the geochemistry of metals in rocks, meteorites, water and the atmosphere.
Distant weather systems such as tropical cyclones and low-pressure systems lying over coastal regions can lead to high pollution levels (Gallardo et al. 2002; Tanner and Law 2002; Wang and Kwok 2002).
Additionally, more than 100 families from the neighborhood with the highest levels of lead pollution were relocated to sites far away from the smelter.
Prof Kevin McConway, a statistician at the Open University said, based on the findings, if Newcastle were to halve its current particulate air pollution level it would lead to two or three fewer low weight babies out of the total 3,500 or so born in the city each year.
The study showed that better auditing leads to lower pollution levels.
Polluting industries, open burning of refuse and leaves, massive quantities of construction waste and substantial loss of forests have also led to high pollution levels in cities.
2015's roller coaster quality -- the best summer and worst winter on record -- has prompted further questions over what led to soaring pollution levels in November and December.
Past and current patterns of resource use have led to high pollution levels, environmental degradation and the depletion of natural resources.
