Global biogeochemical cycle of vanadium

Significance Human emissions of vanadium to atmosphere exceed natural sources by a factor of 1.7 and are destined to rise dramatically as we switch to the use of heavy oils, tar sands, and bitumen as combustion sources. Breathing vanadium-rich aerosols has unknown but potentially adverse health impacts. The human impacts on the global vanadium cycle parallel impacts on the global cycles for Pb and Hg.