ECOGRAM

Industrial Barrens

DEFINITION: Bleak open landscapes evolved due to deposition of airborne pollutants, with only small patches of vegetation surrounded by bare land.

CASE STUDY:

New Jersey Zinc Company - Palmerton, PA

Pollutant: Zinc smelter

Description of affected landscapes: Completely barren or sparsely vegetated area; a barren, devastated, biological desert. (2,000 acres of land)

Meteorologic Effects: Palmerton, PA has a prevailing wind pattern in the north-west direction, which in turn carrys the zinc plant's smelter emissions up the nearby Blue Mountain range. This movement of harmful emissions results in the unfortunate higher concentration of pollutants than that of a level site, affecting the mountains vegetation as well as contaminating the water runoff that travels down the mountainside.

Additional Effects: Logging, fires, soil erosion, and land dessication

Revegetation Efforts: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is coordinating efforts to revegetate the 2,000 acres of land that has turned to barrens. Palmerton Zinc is one of the EPA's Mid-Atlantic Superfund Sites: to read more about this click here