Evidence of Chlordecone Resurrection by Glyphosate in French West Indies

The widespread use of pesticides in agriculture during the last several decades has contaminated soils and different Critical Zone (CZ) compartments, defined as area extended from top vegetation canopy to groundwater table, it integrates interactions atmosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere. However, long-term fate, storage, transfer dynamics persistent CZ a changing world remain poorly understood. In French West Indies, chlordecone (CLD), toxic organochlorine insecticide, was extensively applied banana fields control weevil 1972 1993 after which banned. Here, understand trajectories we apply retrospective observation based on marine sediment core analyses monitor CLD transfer, consequences Guadeloupe Martinique islands. Both profiles show synchronous chronologies. We hypothesized that glyphosate, postemergence herbicide, late 1990s onward induced modification with an increase soil erosion led release stable stored polluted fields. fluxes drastically increased when glyphosate began, leading ecosystem contamination. As is used globally, ecotoxicological risk management strategies should consider how its application affects pesticide storage soils, dynamics,