Predominant anthropogenic sources and rates of atmospheric mercury accumulation in southern Ontario recorded by peat cores from three bogs: comparison with natural “background” values (past 8000 years)

2003 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 935-949 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Givelet ◽  
Fiona Roos-Barraclough ◽  
William Shotyk
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Mercury Accumulation ◽  
Natural Background ◽  
Southern Ontario ◽  
Background Values

scholarly journals Characteristics of atmospheric mercury deposition and size-fractionated particulate mercury in urban Nanjing, China

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 2233-2244 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Zhu ◽  
T. Wang ◽  
R. Talbot ◽  
H. Mao ◽  
X. Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dry Deposition ◽  
Wet Deposition ◽  
Fine Particles ◽  
Unit Area ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Deposition Flux ◽  
Coarse Particles ◽  
Mercury Deposition ◽  
Particulate Mercury

Abstract. A comprehensive measurement study of mercury wet deposition and size-fractionated particulate mercury (HgP) concurrent with meteorological variables was conducted from June 2011 to February 2012 to evaluate the characteristics of mercury deposition and particulate mercury in urban Nanjing, China. The volume-weighted mean (VWM) concentration of mercury in rainwater was 52.9 ng L−1 with a range of 46.3–63.6 ng L−1. The wet deposition per unit area was averaged 56.5 μg m−2 over 9 months, which was lower than that in most Chinese cities, but much higher than annual deposition in urban North America and Japan. The wet deposition flux exhibited obvious seasonal variation strongly linked with the amount of precipitation. Wet deposition in summer contributed more than 80% to the total amount. A part of contribution to wet deposition of mercury from anthropogenic sources was evidenced by the association between wet deposition and sulfates, as well as nitrates in rainwater. The ions correlated most significantly with mercury were formate, calcium, and potassium, which suggested that natural sources including vegetation and resuspended soil should be considered as an important factor to affect the wet deposition of mercury in Nanjing. The average HgP concentration was 1.10 ± 0.57 ng m−3. A distinct seasonal distribution of HgP concentrations was found to be higher in winter as a result of an increase in the PM10 concentration. Overall, more than half of the HgP existed in the particle size range less than 2.1 μm. The highest concentration of HgP in coarse particles was observed in summer, while HgP in fine particles dominated in fall and winter. The size distribution of averaged mercury content in particulates was bimodal, with two peaks in the bins of < 0.7 μm and 4.7–5.8 μm. Dry deposition per unit area of HgP was estimated to be 47.2 μg m−2 using meteorological conditions and a size-resolved particle dry deposition model. This was 16.5% less than mercury wet deposition. Compared to HgP in fine particles, HgP in coarse particles contributed more to the total dry deposition due to higher deposition velocities. Negative correlation between precipitation and the HgP concentration reflected the effect of scavenging of HgP by precipitation.

scholarly journals Model analyses of atmospheric mercury: present air quality and effects of transpacific transport on the United States

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 9849-9893 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Lei ◽  
X.-Z. Liang ◽  
D. J. Wuebbles ◽  
Z. Tao
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Wet Deposition ◽  
Total Mercury ◽  
The United States ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Mercury Deposition ◽  
Transpacific Transport ◽  
Mercury Cycle

Abstract. Atmospheric mercury is a toxic air and water pollutant that is of significant concern because of its effects on human health and ecosystems. A mechanistic representation of the atmospheric mercury cycle is developed for the state-of-the-art global climate-chemistry model, CAM-Chem (Community Atmospheric Model with Chemistry). The model simulates the emission, transport, transformation and deposition of atmospheric mercury (Hg) in three forms: elemental mercury (Hg(0)), reactive mercury (Hg(II)), and particulate mercury (PHg). Emissions of mercury include those from human, land, ocean, biomass burning and volcano related sources. Land emissions are calculated based on surface solar radiation flux and skin temperature. A simplified air–sea mercury exchange scheme is used to calculate emissions from the oceans. The chemistry mechanism includes the oxidation of Hg(0) in gaseous phase by ozone with temperature dependence, OH, H2O2 and chlorine. Aqueous chemistry includes both oxidation and reduction of Hg(0). Transport and deposition of mercury species are calculated through adapting the original formulations in CAM-Chem. The CAM-Chem model with mercury is driven by present meteorology to simulate the present mercury air quality during the 1999–2001 periods. The resulting surface concentrations of total gaseous mercury (TGM) are then compared with the observations from worldwide sites. Simulated wet depositions of mercury over the continental United States are compared to the observations from 26 Mercury Deposition Network stations to test the wet deposition simulations. The evaluations of gaseous concentrations and wet deposition confirm a strong capability for the CAM-Chem mercury mechanism to simulate the atmospheric mercury cycle. The results also indicate that mercury pollution in East Asia and Southern Africa is very significant with TGM concentrations above 3.0 ng m−3. The comparison to wet deposition indicates that wet deposition patterns of mercury are more affected by the spatial variability of precipitation. The sensitivity experiments show that 22% of total mercury deposition and 25% of TGM concentrations in the United States are resulted from domestic anthropogenic sources, but only 9% of total mercury deposition and 7% of TGM concentrations are contributed by transpacific transport. However, the contributions of domestic and transpacific sources on the western United States levels of mercury are of comparable magnitude.

scholarly journals Diatom ooze—A large marine mercury sink

Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 361 (6404) ◽  
pp. 797-800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Zaferani ◽  
Marta Pérez-Rodríguez ◽  
Harald Biester
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Marine Sediment ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Anthropogenic Pollution ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Mercury Accumulation ◽  
Accumulation Rates ◽  
Sediment Data

The role of algae for sequestration of atmospheric mercury in the ocean is largely unknown owing to a lack of marine sediment data. We used high-resolution cores from marine Antarctica to estimate Holocene global mercury accumulation in biogenic siliceous sediments (diatom ooze). Diatom ooze exhibits the highest mercury accumulation rates ever reported for the marine environment and provides a large sink of anthropogenic mercury, surpassing existing model estimates by as much as a factor of 7. Anthropogenic pollution of the Southern Ocean began ~150 years ago, and up to 20% of anthropogenic mercury emitted to the atmosphere may have been stored in diatom ooze. These findings reveal the crucial role of diatoms as a fast vector for mercury sequestration and diatom ooze as a large marine mercury sink.

Updated Emission Inventories for Speciated Atmospheric Mercury from Anthropogenic Sources in China

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 3185-3194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Shuxiao Wang ◽  
Long Wang ◽  
Ye Wu ◽  
Lei Duan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Emission Inventories

Atmospheric Mercury Accumulation Rates Between 5900 and 800 Calibrated Years BP in the High Arctic of Canada Recorded by Peat Hummocks

2004 ◽  
Vol 38 (19) ◽  
pp. 4964-4972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Givelet ◽  
Fiona Roos-Barraclough ◽  
Michael E. Goodsite ◽  
Andriy K. Cheburkin ◽  
William Shotyk
Keyword(s):  
High Arctic ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Mercury Accumulation ◽  
Accumulation Rates

Atmospheric Mercury Deposition during the Last 270 Years:  A Glacial Ice Core Record of Natural and Anthropogenic Sources

2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 2303-2310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul F. Schuster ◽  
David P. Krabbenhoft ◽  
David L. Naftz ◽  
L. Dewayne Cecil ◽  
Mark L. Olson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Mercury Deposition ◽  
Glacial Ice ◽  
Ice Core Record

scholarly journals The Role of Climate: 71 ka of Atmospheric Mercury Deposition in the Southern Hemisphere Recorded by Rano Aroi Mire, Easter Island (Chile)

Geosciences ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Pérez-Rodríguez ◽  
Olga Margalef ◽  
Juan Corella ◽  
Alfonso Saiz-Lopez ◽  
Sergi Pla-Rabes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Easter Island ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Atmospheric Oxidation ◽  
Main Process ◽  
Mercury Deposition ◽  
Mercury Cycling ◽  
Surface Deposition ◽  
Depositional Processes

The study of mercury accumulation in peat cores provides an excellent opportunity to improve the knowledge on mercury cycling and depositional processes at remote locations far from pollution sources. We analyzed mercury concentrations in 150 peat samples from two cores from Rano Aroi (Easter Island, 27° S) and in selected vegetation samples of present-day flora of the island, in order to characterize the mercury cycling for the last ~71 ka BP. The mercury concentrations showed values ranging between 35 and 200 ng g−1, except for a large maxima (~1000 ng g−1) which occurred at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ~20 ka cal BP) in both peat cores. Low temperatures during the LGM would accelerate the atmospheric oxidation of Hg(0) to divalent mercury that, coupled with higher rainfall during this period, most likely resulted in a very efficient surface deposition of atmospheric mercury. Two exceptional short-lived Hg peaks occurred during the Holocene at 8.5 (350 ng g−1) and 4.7 (1000 ng g−1) ka cal BP. These values are higher than those recorded in most peat records belonging to the industrial period, highlighting that natural factors played a significant role in Hg accumulation—sometimes even more so than anthropogenic sources. Our results suggest that wet deposition, linked to atmospheric oxidation, was the main process controlling the short-lived Hg events, both in the mire and in the catchment soils.

scholarly journals Identification of the spatial distributions, pollution levels, sources, and health risk of heavy metals in surface dusts from Korla, NW China

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1338-1349
Author(s):  
Adila Hayrat ◽  
Mamattursun Eziz
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Pollution Load Index ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Pollution Level ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Nw China ◽  
Surface Dust ◽  
Background Values

AbstractA total of 54 surface dust samples were gathered from Korla in NW China, and the concentrations of six heavy metal elements, such as Hg, Cd, As, Pb, Cr, and Cu, were determined by standard methods. The geostatistical analysis, multivariate statistical analysis, pollution load index (PLI), and the US EPA health risk assessment model were used to analyze the spatial distribution, pollution, and its potential health risk of heavy metals in surface dusts, and the main sources of heavy metals were also identified. The obtained results indicate that the average concentrations of As in surface dust of Korla is lower than the background values determined in Xinjiang soil, whereas the average concentrations of Hg, Cd, Pb, Cr, and Cu elements exceeded the corresponding background values by factors of 3.71, 1.87, 1.96, 1.14, and 1.29, respectively. The higher concentration of analyzed heavy metals is observed in the northeastern and northern parts in the study area. The pollution level of heavy metals decreased in the following order: Hg > Pb > Cd > Cu > Cr > As. Based on the identified concentrations, the collected dust samples are found to be heavily polluted by Hg and slightly polluted by As, and the remaining elements, Pb, Cd, Cu, and Cr, are found to be low polluted. Furthermore, the PLI values of heavy metals in surface dust vary between 0.74 and 2.74, with an average value of 1.40, at the low pollution level. In addition, As in surface dust in the study area is mainly natural source, while Hg, Cd, Cr, Cu, and Pb are mainly anthropogenic sources. Overall, the carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic health risks of the analyzed elements, instigated mainly by oral ingestion of surface dust, are found to be within the acceptable range for both children and adults. As and Cr are the main noncarcinogenic elements, whereas Cr is the major carcinogenic element among the investigated dust-bound heavy metals in Korla.

European emissions of atmospheric mercury from anthropogenic sources in 1995

2001 ◽  
Vol 35 (17) ◽  
pp. 2987-2996 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.G. Pacyna ◽  
J.M. Pacyna ◽  
N. Pirrone
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources
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