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As permafrost thaws, some headwaters in Canada’s North turn orange and toxic: study
Researchers found thawing permafrost is releasing sulphide minerals that turn streams orange and toxic within 2 to 3 years, the study said.
- On Thursday, a new study published in the journal Science revealed that thawing permafrost is turning Yukon streams bright orange by exposing ancient, sulphide-rich bedrock that leaches toxic metals into northern waters.
- Warming temperatures in Canada's North, which have risen around 2.6C since the 1960s, are melting ice-rich ground and exposing previously frozen rock layers to water and oxygen, triggering the chemical reactions.
- Lead author Elliott Skierszkan of Carleton University identified 146 impacted streams via satellite imagery, with some sites transitioning to toxic, acidic levels comparable to mine effluents within just three years.
- Contamination threatens aquatic life, including fish populations in the Yukon River, while posing risks to Indigenous communities and hikers relying on alpine waterways for drinking water.
- Patrick Sullivan, director of the Environment and Natural Resource Institute at the University of Alaska Anchorage, says this 'unfolding environmental disaster' extends across the North American northwest, affecting potentially thousands of streams.
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The shocking reason Arctic rivers are turning rusty orange
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·United States
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Total News Sources30
Leaning Left18Leaning Right0Center9Last UpdatedBias Distribution67% Left
Bias Distribution
- 67% of the sources lean Left
67% Left
L 67%
C 33%
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