Most air pollution is not natural, however. This air pollution also killed thousands of cattle and as many as 1,700 people. As the toxic cloud moved across the landscape, it killed birds and other organisms in their natural habitat. The heated gases passed through the water of the lake and collected as a cloud that descended the slopes of the volcano and into nearby valleys. Though the volcano did not erupt, it did eject volcanic gases into the lake. Lake Nyos sits in the crater of a volcano. In 1986, a toxic cloud developed over Lake Nyos, Cameroon. They were choked, or asphyxiated, by deadly volcanic gases. Most victims of Vesuvius were not killed by lava or landslides caused by the eruption. Mount Vesuvius, a volcano in Italy, famously erupted in 79, killing hundreds of residents of the nearby towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Volcanic gases, such as sulfur dioxide, can kill nearby residents and make the soil infertile for years. For years, meteorologists tracked what was known as the “equatorial smoke stream.” In fact, this smoke stream was a jet stream, a wind high in Earth’s atmosphere that Krakatoa’s air pollution made visible. The dimmer sky caused fewer crops to be harvested as far away as Europe and North America. After the eruption of the Indonesian volcano of Krakatoa in 1883, ash darkened the sky around the world. Volcanic ash can discolor the sky for months. When volcanoes erupt, they eject volcanic ash and gases into the atmosphere. Natural disasters can also cause air pollution to increase quickly. Hundreds of thou sands more were permanently injured. In 1984, an accident at a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, released a deadly gas into the air. It can also increase the risk of lung cancer. It can make people’s eyes burn and make them have difficulty breathing. Polluted air can be dangerous, even if the pollutants are invisible. More often, however, air pollution is invisible. A person can see dark smoke pour from the exhaust pipes of large trucks or factories, for example. Air Pollution Sometimes, air pollution is visible. The three major types of pollution are air pollution, water pollution, and land pollution. Now, coal-burning power plants in Texas and the neighboring state of Chihuahua, Mexico have spewed so much pollution into the air that visitors to Big Bend can sometimes see only 50 kilometers (30 miles). state of Texas could see 290 kilometers (180 miles) across the vast landscape. In the past, visitors to Big Bend National Park in the U.S. Smoke from a factory in one country drifts into another country. Winds can pick up radioactive material accidentally released from a nuclear reactor and scatter it around the world. Ocean currents and migrating fish carry marine pollutants far and wide. In the middle of the northern Pacific Ocean, a huge collection of microscopic plastic particles forms what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
For example, pesticides and other chemicals have been found in the Antarctic ice sheet. Although urban areas are usually more polluted than the countryside, pollution can spread to remote places where no people live. When these resources are polluted, all forms of life are threatened.
All living things-from one-celled microbes to blue whales-depend on Earth’s supply of air and water. Pesticides-chemical poisons used to kill weeds and insects- seep into waterways and harm wildlife. Industries and homes generate garbage and sewage that can pollute the land and water. Burning coal to create electricity pollutes the air. Cars spew pollutants from their exhaust pipes. Many things that are useful to people produce pollution. Pollutants damage the quality of air, water, and land. They can also be created by human activity, such as trash or runoff produced by factories.
Pollutants can be natural, such as volcanic ash. These harmful materials are called pollutants. Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment.
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