Papers by jodi turnbull
International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 2016
Environment and History is an interdisciplinary journal which aims to bring scholars in the human... more Environment and History is an interdisciplinary journal which aims to bring scholars in the humanities and natural sciences closer together, with the deliberate intention of constructing long and well-founded perspectives on present day environmental problems.
Rivers of Gold by jodi turnbull
Antiquity, 2016
Future scientists seeking evidence of the Anthropocene on a planetary scale will find a series of... more Future scientists seeking evidence of the Anthropocene on a planetary scale will find a series of structurally similar deposits dating to within the same few thousand years at multiple locations around the world. It will be evident that they were produced by a global human drive to exploit the Earth’s mineral wealth. The impact and the evidence left by this phenomenon in the ‘Gold Rush’ region of Victoria, Australia are particularly clear. Using a multi-scalar approach, the authors examine the extent and significance of changes resulting from water management and mining processes, which, in some cases, resulted in the creation of new landscapes far beyond the mining district.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 2015
This paper reports on preliminary research into gold-mining-related mercury contamination in nine... more This paper reports on preliminary research into gold-mining-related mercury contamination in nineteenth-century Victoria. data drawn from contemporary sources, including Mineral Statistics of Victoria and Mining Surveyors Reports from 1868‒1888, are used to calculate quantities of mercury used by miners to amalgamate gold in stamp batteries and the rates of mercury lost in the process. Some of the mercury discharged from mining and ore milling flowed into nearby waterways and some remained in the waste residue, the tailings near the mills. We estimate that a minimum of 121 tons of mercury were discharged from stamp batteries in this period. although the figures fluctuate through time and space, they allow a good estimate of how much mercury was leaving the mine workings and entering Victorian creeks and rivers. Better understanding of historic mercury loss can provide the basis for improved mapping of mercury distribution in modern waterways, which can in turn inform the management of catchment systems.
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Papers by jodi turnbull
Rivers of Gold by jodi turnbull