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• Sixteen Distinct Natural Communities
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• Interpreting What You See Here
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• Acid Rain
• Amethyst
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Acid Rain

Effects Of Air Pollution On The Mountains

One purpose of the Museum is to inform visitors on current topics such as the effects of air pollution on the mountains.

Air pollution from power plants and industries in Tennessee and the Ohio River valley that burn high sulfur coal is picked up by the prevailing winds and carried toward the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia.

When air pollutants combine with water in the atmosphere, a chemical reaction occurs that results in the production of sulfuric acid. Later, when clouds form over the high peaks, the precipitation falls as acid rain.

Even more acidic is the acid fog. Rime ice, clouds that have frozen on the trees, has been measured at a PH of 2.1 near the Mile High Swinging Bridge. For comparison, lemon juice measures a PH of 2.5 and battery acid measures a PH of 1.

Forest Service officials frequently attribute the death of the Spruce Fir ecosystems to the Balsam woolly adelgid. Fraser Fir trees are being damaged by the adelgid, but they could probably survive were they not already in distress. It is the weakening of the trees by pollutants that make them vulnerable to non-native pests.

Acid rain can kill trees by burning new growth as it first sprouts, but more damaging are the metals that the trees absorb through their roots. Acidic precipitation frees up aluminum and other metals found naturally in the soil, changing the chemical composition into something the trees take through their roots. As a result, the Spruce Fir forests of the high peaks in North Carolina are dying from their own form of clogged arteries.

For more information, visit the NC Division of Air Quality website: http://daq.state.nc.us/.

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