GREENLAND, Denmark. – Greenland´s ice contains mercury and lead reservoirs, polychlorinated biphenyls and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, according to a research by the University of that Autonomous Region, belonging to Denmark.

The ice layer in the area is often seen as a pristine environment, but microbes have developed there a potential to resist accumulations of pollutants emitted worldwide.

These pollutants accumulate in the Arctic and are stored in the frozen environments of the cryosphere, which essentially means that it becomes a reservoir of toxic chemicals.

Researchers took samples of multiple surface ice locations in the Greenland´s ice sheet, and they found that microbial communities in ice layers have the potential to resist and degrade contaminants.