MASS EXTINCTION EVENT: a world buried in toxic mercury
Jul 01, 2020
4 minutes
By Christian Juul
Geologist Tamsin Mather takes her last few steps up the ash-covered slope of the volcano, and peers over the rim at the huge crater that appears before her. She is standing more than three kilometres above sea level, staring into the largest crater atop the Sicilian volcano of Etna – one of the most active in the world. Only two years previously a huge eruption caused one side of the volcano to slide several metres down towards the sea while tourists were pelted with hot rocks and steam. Mather nervously glances down into the deep crater as she carefully deploys her fragile measuring equipment.
As the sunlight fades,
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