Does mercury presence in soils promote their microbial activity? The Almadenejos case (Almadén mercury mining district, Spain)

Campos, Juan A.; Esbrí, José María; Martinez-Madrid, Maite; Naharro, Rocío; Peco, Jesús D.; García-Noguero, Eva María; Ortíz-Villajos, José Ángel Amorós; Moreno, M.M.; Higueras, Pablo

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.02.163

Cited by 43 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This area includes three large mines, which are now closed, and a metallurgical precinct located immediately to the north of the urban area representing the only significant active local source of gaseous mercury (Martínez-Coronado et al, 2011). This is an excellent area for the study of Hg transference between environmental compartments (Naharro et al, 2018;Campos et al, 2018) due to scarce remediation work that has been carried out in recent centuries, which has left a legacy of anomalous Hg presence in the soils, roads and rivers. Previous data on PBM from the area have shown that emissions are related to the creation of a diurnal mixing layer, while dry deposition rates (317 µg m −2 yr −1 ) were of the order of other rural areas and lower than urban areas (Esbrí et al, 2018b).…”

Section: Vertical Profile Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

4D dispersion of total gaseous mercury derived from a mining source: identification of criteria to assess risks related to high concentrations of atmospheric mercury

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Mercury (Hg) is a global pollutant that can be transported long distances after its emission from primary sources. The most common problem of gaseous Hg in the vicinity of anthropogenic sources is its presence in inorganic forms and in the gaseous state in the atmosphere. Risk assessments related to the presence of gaseous Hg in the atmosphere at contaminated sites are often based on episodic and incomplete data, which do not properly characterize the Hg cycle in the area of interest or consider spatial or temporal terms. The aim of this work was to identify criteria to obtain the minimum amount of data with the maximum meaning and representativeness in order to delimit risk areas, both in a spatial and temporal respect. Data were acquired from May 2014 to August 2015 and included vertical and horizontal Hg measurements. A statistical analysis was carried out, and this included the construction of a model of vertical Hg movements that could be used to predict the location and timing of Hg inhalation risk. A monitoring strategy was designed in order to identify the relevant criteria, and this involved the measurement of gaseous Hg in a vertical section at low altitude (i.e. where humans are present) and in horizontal transects to appropriately characterize the transport cycle of gaseous Hg in the lower layers of the atmosphere. The measurements were carried out over time in order to obtain information on daily and seasonal variability. The study site selected was Almadenejos (Ciudad Real, Spain), a village polluted with mercury related to decommissioned mining and metallurgical facilities belonging to the Almadén mercury mining district. The vertical profiles revealed that higher total gaseous mercury concentrations are present at lower altitude during nocturnal hours and at higher altitude at dawn and dusk. On a daily basis the most important process involved in gaseous mercury movements is the mixing layer. Vertical transferences are predominant when this process is active, i.e. in all seasons except winter, while major sources act as constant suppliers of gaseous Hg to the mixing cell, thus producing Hg deposition at dusk. Conversely, horizontal transferences prevail during the hours of darkness and the main factors are major and minor sources, solar radiation, wind speed, and topography. The study has shown that it is important (i) to identify the sources, (ii) to get data about Hg movements in vertical and horizontal directions, (iii) to extend the measurements over time in a sufficiently representative way both daily and seasonally, and (iv) to determine the different populations of data to establish the background levels; this work proposes the use of Lepeltier graphs to do so. In terms of risk assessment, the nights carry greater risk than the days in all seasons except autumn. The main factors involved in the creation of high-risk periods are those related to dilution (or its absence), namely wind speed and solar radiation at null levels. The results of this study highlight the possible importance of relieving the distribution of gaseous mercury in proximity to discrete sources. Furthermore, systematic monitoring strategies can offer significant information for the Minamata Convention emission reduction scenario. Further studies, including a detailed topographic model of the area, are required in order to make precise estimations of the influence of this parameter, which appears in this study to be less important than the other factors but is still appreciable.

show abstract

Section: Vertical Profile Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

4D dispersion of total gaseous mercury derived from a mining source: identification of criteria to assess risks related to high concentrations of atmospheric mercury

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The results show that the soils are contaminated with Hg, Cr and Ni due to the mining of cinnabar and the occurrence of ultrabasic-rock fragments in the conglomerates. Mercury concentrations in these mine soils do not deviate from those in soils from other mine areas with cinnabar mineralization [20, [38][39][40][41][42]. Although the soils were shown to have increased concentrations of the three metals studied, they may not yet represent a risk to the environment because environmental hazards are mainly governed by metal mobility and availability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Environmental Availability of Trace Metals (Mercury, Chromium and Nickel) in Soils from the Abandoned Mine Area of Merník (Eastern Slovakia)

Hiller¹,

Jurkovič²,

Majzlan³

et al. 2021

Pol. J. Environ. Stud.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The former mercury ore deposit of Merník in Eastern Slovakia was selected for the investigation of the environmental availability of mercury (Hg), chromium (Cr) and nickel (Ni) in mine soils. Singlestep extractions with four chemical agents (deionised water, ethylenediaminetetraacetic (EDTA), acetic (CH 3 COOH) and hydrochloric (HCl) acid solutions) and chemical analysis of the common nettle (Urtica dioica) were used to determine the availability of the three metals. Regardless of the type of extraction, the soluble ratios of metals in mine soils increased in the order of Hg≤CrCH 3 COOH ≈ EDTA>˃H 2 O. The total or extractable metal concentrations in soil did not correlate with their concentrations in aerial parts of the common nettle, however, its ability to accumulate these trace metals in roots and aerial parts copied the results of extraction tests, i.e. Hg≤Cr

show abstract

“…Duodu et al 2016) have found that Hg is one of the HMs that poses a higher potential ecological risk for soils. Campos et al (2018) have observed a strong correlation between Hg contents in soils and plants, and how this metal transfers from soils to vegetables, which is not influenced by edaphic characteristics, but by contaminating load. The situation differed with Cr because Er Cr was below 40 in all the analysed GS, which indicates that the potential ecological risk was very low.…”

Section: Temporal Hg and Cr Trends In Gsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Ecological risk assessment of mercury and chromium in greenhouse soils

Ramos-Miras

Gil

Martín

et al. 2019

Environ Geochem Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Very little information is available about Hg and Cr evolution in greenhouse soils. This paper presents the results of determining Hg and Cr in greenhouse soils in a semi-arid region in the southern Iberian Peninsula (Almería, Spain), and assessing the enrichment level and the Potential Ecological Risk Index (PERI) according to crop age. Hakanson's approach was used to evaluate the PERI. To investigate the behaviour of Hg and Cr in greenhouse soils over time, samples were grouped into values in soils for blocks according to crop age: 0 years, 5-10 years, 10-20 years, more than 20 years. The results showed that 74% of GS exceeded the obtained background level (37.1 lg kg -1 ) for Hg, with 43% (48.9 mg kg -1 ) for Cr. Temporal patterns indicated that these elements are accumulating in greenhouse soils and this trend was very significant for Hg. After more than 20 intensive crop-farming years, concentrations and the PERI had clearly increased. Although the ecological risk was moderate, our observations suggest that the farming practices performed in the last 35 years have allowed these metals to accumulate. In fact, the 15% of the studied soils presented a considerable potential risk and were the soils that had been used longer.

show abstract

Does mercury presence in soils promote their microbial activity? The Almadenejos case (Almadén mercury mining district, Spain)

Cited by 43 publications

References 34 publications

4D dispersion of total gaseous mercury derived from a mining source: identification of criteria to assess risks related to high concentrations of atmospheric mercury

4D dispersion of total gaseous mercury derived from a mining source: identification of criteria to assess risks related to high concentrations of atmospheric mercury

Environmental Availability of Trace Metals (Mercury, Chromium and Nickel) in Soils from the Abandoned Mine Area of Merník (Eastern Slovakia)

Ecological risk assessment of mercury and chromium in greenhouse soils

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About