The sinking carcasses of fish from near-surface waters deliver toxic mercury pollution to the most remote and inaccessible parts of the world’s oceans, including the deepest spot of all: the 36,000-foot-deep Mariana Trench in the northwest Pacific. And most of that mercury began its long journey to the deep-sea trenches as atmospheric emissions from coal-fired power plants, mining operations, cement factories, incinerators and other human activities. Those are two of the main conclusions of a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences co-authored by University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa researchers Jeffrey Drazen and Brian Popp.

Click here for more.