Bioaccumulation of mercury in benthic communities of a river ecosystem affected by mercury mining

Žižek, Suzana; Horvat, Milena; Gibičar, Darija; Fajon, Vesna; Toman, Mihael J.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.02.010

Cited by 73 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…These trends observed are in a good agreement with the work done since 1998 in the River Idrijca (Hines et al 2000;Bonzongo et al 2002;Horvat et al 2002;Ž ižek et al 2007) and clearly show that although the production of mercury at the Idrija mercury mine stopped in 1994, the area remains a permanent source of mercury for the riverine system. There, important transformation mechanisms that convert inorganic mercury to MeHg take place and in this way make it biologically available.…”

Section: Methyl Mercury In River Watersupporting

confidence: 88%

“…In the last decades many research studies on mercury in this area were carried out. Mercury cycling in different environmental compartments was investigated in the town of Idrija and its surroundings (Biester et al 2000;Gnamuš et al 2000;Horvat et al 2002;Kocman et al 2004;Kotnik et al 2005;Gosar et al 2006;Ž ižek et al 2007), as well as its impact on humans and their health (Kobal et al 2004(Kobal et al , 2008. Moreover, an assessment of the extent of mercury contamination including mathematical modelling in the Gulf of Trieste, the basin into which the Idrijca drains mercury contaminated sediments, was performed (Rajar et al 2000;Faganeli et al 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Distribution and partitioning of mercury in a river catchment impacted by former mercury mining activity

et al. 2010

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Mercury distribution and partitioning was studied in the River Idrijca system, draining the area of the former Idrija mercury mine, Slovenia. Mercury dynamics were assessed by speciation analysis of mercury in water and river bed sediment samples during a 2-year study at locations on the River Idrijca and its major tributaries. Simultaneously, the influence of some major physico-chemical parameters that influence the fate of mercury in the aquatic environment was investigated. The distribution of mercury species in the River Idrijca catchment indicated contamination from mine tailings distributed in the town of Idrija and erosion of contaminated soils. The partitioning between dissolved and particulate mercury phases in river water was found to be mostly controlled by the variable content of suspended solids resulting from changing hydrological conditions and complexation with various ligands present in river water, among which dissolved organic carbon (DOC) seems to be the most important. Overall results indicate that mercury is transported downstream from the mining area mainly as finely suspended material including colloids rather than in the dissolved phase. This riverine transport occurs mostly during short, but extreme hydro-meteorological conditions when remobilization of mercury from the river bed sediments occurs. A significant part of the mercury particulate phase in water corresponds to cinnabar particles. During its transport, important Hg transformation mechanisms that increase the risk of mercury uptake by biota take place, evidenced by the increase in the relative contribution of reactive mercury (Hg R ), dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM) and monomethylmercury (MeHg) downstream from the Idrija mine. However, our data revealed relatively low methylation efficiency in this contaminated river system. We attribute this to the site specific physico-chemical conditions responsible for making inorganic mercury unavailable and limiting the capacity of methylating bacteria.

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Section: Methyl Mercury In River Watersupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution and partitioning of mercury in a river catchment impacted by former mercury mining activity

et al. 2010

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“…The percentage of Hg that is methylated in periphyton (1.3-7.5%) was similar to that noted by Ž ižek et al [30] (1.6-8.8%). The percentage of total Hg present as methylmercury increased with trophic position until nearly all of the Hg in higher predators was methylmercury, which was similar to other studies [29][30][31].…”

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confidence: 88%

Modeling mercury biomagnification (South River, Virginia, USA) to inform river management decision making

Tom

Newman

Schmerfeld

2010

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Mercury trophic transfer in the South River (VA, USA) was modeled to guide river remediation decision making. Sixteen different biota types were collected at six sites within 23 river miles. Mercury biomagnification was modeled using a general biomagnification model based on delta(15)N and distance from the historic mercury release. Methylmercury trophic transfer was clearer than that for total Hg and, therefore, was used to build the predictive model (r(2) (prediction) = 0.76). The methylmercury biomagnification factors were similar among sites, but model intercept did increase with distance down river. Minimum Akaike's Information Criterion Estimation (MAICE) justified the incorporation of distance in the model. A model with a very similar biomagnification factor to the South River (95% confidence intervals [CI] = 0.38-0.52) was produced for a second contaminated Virginia river, the North Fork Holston River (95% CI = 0.41-0.55). Percent of total Hg that was methylmercury increased monotonically with trophic position. Trophic models based on delta(15)N were adequate for predicting changes in mercury concentrations in edible fish under different remediation scenarios.

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“…La región está rodeada por tres ríos: el Magdalena, el Cauca y el San Jorge, y es atravesada por canales que drenan el área durante los períodos de inundación, los cuales ocurren principalmente en la región oeste, en la cuenca del San Jorge. Durante la temporada de lluvias (de mayo a diciembre), esta zona recibe descargas de mercurio y otros metales pesados transportados por el río Cauca, y provenientes de los residuos de la extracción del oro en las minas ubicadas en los departamentos de Bolívar y Antioquia que circundan la región de La Mojana (12,23,24) (figura 1).…”

Section: áRea De Estudiounclassified

“…En este caso, su peligrosidad es mayor debido a que no se han degradado o destruido, por lo que, una vez emitidos, pueden permanecer en el ambiente durante muchos años, aumentar su concentración en los seres vivos y acumularse (11). En el caso del mercurio, este tiene una gran capacidad de 'biomagnificarse' y, conforme aumentan los niveles de la cadena trófica, también lo hace el grado de acumulación del metilmercurio en los tejidos de los seres vivos (12).…”

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Efectos genotóxicos en población humana asociados a metales pesados en la región de La Mojana, Colombia, 2013

Calao

Marrugo

2015

biomedica

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Contribución de los autores:Clelia Rosa Calao: ejecución del estudio en campo y realización de pruebas biológicas (ensayo cometa), análisis de resultados y redacción del artículo José Luis Marrugo: concepción y diseño del estudio, revisión del manuscrito en cuanto a la dinámica de la contaminación con metales pesados y su relación con la salud pública como aplicación de la vigilancia ambiental Introducción. En Colombia, la minería es una actividad económica importante; sin embargo, genera grandes cantidades de residuos que contienen elementos potencialmente tóxicos, como los metales pesados, que contaminan los ecosistemas y ponen en riesgo la salud humana. La región de La Mojana es una de las zonas más ricas en biodiversidad del planeta y se ha visto sometida a procesos de contaminación muy relacionados con la minería de oro que se desarrolla en sus alrededores. Objetivo. Evaluar la genotoxicidad en una población expuesta a residuos de metales pesados en la región de La Mojana. Materiales y métodos. Se evaluaron los efectos genotóxicos y su relación con la concentración de metales pesados (mercurio, cadmio y plomo) en muestras de sangre de la población expuesta y el grupo de control. El grupo expuesto lo conformaron habitantes de los municipios de Guaranda, Sucre, Majagual y San Marcos; en el grupo de control se incluyó a habitantes del municipio de Montería. Se determinó el daño en el ADN mediante el ensayo cometa en condiciones alcalinas. Las concentraciones de mercurio se establecieron mediante espectrometría de absorción atómica con vapor frío, en tanto que las de cadmio y plomo se determinaron por espectrometría de absorción atómica en horno de grafito. Resultados. Las concentraciones de los metales sobrepasaron los límites permitidos por la Organización Mundial de la Salud. Se evidenciaron efectos genotóxicos posiblemente asociados a la presencia de los metales en la sangre. Se encontraron asociaciones significativas (p<0,05) entre la presencia de mercurio y de cadmio, y el daño en el ADN. Conclusión. Estos resultados sugieren que el daño genético registrado en pobladores de la región de La Mojana, Colombia, puede estar asociado a la presencia de los metales estudiados en las muestras de sangre. Genotoxic effects in a human population exposed to heavy metals in the region of La Mojana, Colombia, 2013 Introduction: Mining is an economically important activity in Colombia which generates large quantities of residues containing potentially toxic elements such as heavy metals. These contaminate ecosystems and place human health at risk. La Mojana lies within one of the most biodiversity-rich zones on Earth and has been subjected to processes of contamination closely related to gold mining activities in the surrounding areas. Objective: To evaluate genotoxicity in the population of La Mojana region exposed to heavy metals. Materials and methods: Genotoxic effects and their relationship with concentrations of heavy metals (mercury, cadmium and lead) in blood were evaluated among an exposed population and a contr...

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Bioaccumulation of mercury in benthic communities of a river ecosystem affected by mercury mining

Cited by 73 publications

References 15 publications

Distribution and partitioning of mercury in a river catchment impacted by former mercury mining activity

Distribution and partitioning of mercury in a river catchment impacted by former mercury mining activity

Modeling mercury biomagnification (South River, Virginia, USA) to inform river management decision making

Efectos genotóxicos en población humana asociados a metales pesados en la región de La Mojana, Colombia, 2013

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