Compared to the Industrial revolution, the ocean floor now contains more poisonous mercury than ever before, researchers have found.

Mercury can be both naturally-occurring, or man-made such as the by- product of burning coal and making cement.

Researchers said that mercury is an environmental poison which can be detected everywhere, including the ocean's abyss.

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Carl Lamborg from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said that it is important for people to know how much mercury emission is added every year.

Luckily, scientist has already found a way tell whether the mercury in the ocean came from pollution or natural causes.

Lamborg said that to do this, they separated the natural and man-made bulk contributions in the ocean over time.

Researchers looked at data sets that provide details about oceanic levels of phosphate, a nutrient that binds with other organic materials.

Through this study, they found out that by determining the ratio of phosphate to mercury in water deeper than 3,300 feet, t6hey are able to estimate the mercury levels in the ocean that can from natural causes like the weathering of rocks on land.

Despite this, researchers admit that they still have to find out the mercury levels that were caused by man-made actions.

They said that they need a tracer, a substance that came from the major activities that releases mercury into the environment, to obtain an estimate of mercury levels on shallow waters.

Researchers' analysis concludes that the ocean contains about 60,000 to 80,000 tons of pollution mercury.

They also found out that ocean waters shallower than 300 feet have a tripled mercury concentration

Mercury levels in the ocean also had increased by 10 percent compared to the Industrial evolution era.

Lamborg said that they know what this increase in mercury levels would to fishes and other marine animals.

He believes that this finding gave them a base solid number in which they could continue working.