Mercury atmospheric emission, deposition and isotopic fingerprinting from major coal-fired power plants in Australia: Insights from palaeo-environmental analysis from sediment cores

Schneider, Larissa; Myllyvirta, Lauri; Haberle, Simon; Lintern, Anna; Yuan, Jingjing; Sinclair, Darren; Holley, Cameron; Zawadzki, Atun; Sun, Ruoyu

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117596

Cited by 23 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…The concentrations of TGM observed during the study period has an average distribution of 4.66 ng/m 3 , significantly higher than the Northern Hemisphere continental average levels (always 1.5 ng/m 3 ) (Sprovieri et al 2016). TGM concentrations are often greater in urban and suburban areas than in rural areas (AMP 2013;Schneider et al, 2021). However, data from worldwide metropolitan locations in Asia revealed less than half of the total mean from our study.…”

Section: Tgm Concentrations and Mercury Emission Estimated In Globalcontrasting

confidence: 49%

“…Particularly prevalent as urban air pollution all across Indian megacities and substantial industries, thermal energy sources, and vehicles. (Kaushik et al, 2006;Schneider et al, 2021). The air pollutants affect our ecosystems, cause various diseases in human health, and drive the environment to a corrosive nature in recent years (Deb and Tsay, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seasonal variation of atmospheric total gaseous mercury and urban air quality in South India

2022

Global NEST: The International Journal

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<p>This study analyses seasonal and regular variations in ambient atmospheric concentrations of total gaseous mercury (TGM), ancillary air pollutant concentrations, and their relationship to weather conditions of a megacity environment in India. Further, to correlate with TGM concentrations at different megacities all around the urbanized environments in the world. The average concentration for TGM was 4.66 ± 8.35 ng/m3 and with an absorptions range of 0.41∼540 ng/m3 throughout the study period. The maximum concentration of total gaseous mercury was observed at 5.64 ng/m3 during the winter, while the minimum concentration was 3.91 ng/m3 during the southwest monsoon. The multivariate statistical analysis indicates the TGM values interacted positively with SR, WD, BP, CO, PM2.5, NO2, NOx and negatively with SO2, relative humidity, wind speed, and temperature. Meteorological parameters have an essential influence on the transport and distribution of pollutants in the monitoring site due to its location, local sources, and anthropogenic activities. Wind across India belongs to the southern hemisphere in summer and to the northern hemisphere in winter due to the movement of the intertropical convergence zone. Limited studies of atmospheric mercury concentrations have been conducted in India's city environments; however, as far as our results are concerned, they are the essentials, which exposed about environmental aggregate vaporous mercury detected in a required industrialized and coastal metropolitan zone in India.</p>

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Section: Tgm Concentrations and Mercury Emission Estimated In Globalcontrasting

confidence: 49%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal variation of atmospheric total gaseous mercury and urban air quality in South India

2022

Global NEST: The International Journal

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“…Uptake of atmospheric Hg(0) by vegetation further enriches light Hg isotopes in vegetation, which are then transferred to soils. − The soils and vegetation in lake catchments have been reported to mainly exhibit a significant enrichment of light Hg isotopes. ,,, Previous studies demonstrated that the contribution of legacy Hg accumulated in the catchment to lake sediment Hg increased gradually over time , and that this contribution can vary between 5 and 85% depending on catchment characteristics . In addition, kinetic oxidation of atmospheric Hg(0) in the air could enrich light Hg isotopes in oxidized Hg(II) products, , which are readily scavenged by aerosols and cloud droplets and then transferred to lakes via atmospheric deposition.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury Isotope Variations in Lake Sediment Cores in Response to Direct Mercury Emissions from Non-Ferrous Metal Smelters and Legacy Mercury Remobilization

Sun

Hintelmann

Wiklund

et al. 2022

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Nature archives record atmospheric mercury (Hg) depositions from directly emitted Hg and re-emitted legacy Hg. Tracing the legacy versus newly deposited Hg is still, however, challenging. Here, we measured Hg isotope compositions in three dated sediment cores at different distances from the Flin Flon smelter, the largest Canadian Hg sources to the atmosphere during the 1930s–2000s. During the smelter’s operative period, Hg isotope compositions showed limited variations in the near-field lake (<10 km) sediments but were rather variable in middle- (20–75 km) and far-field lake (∼800 km) sediments. Only the post-2000 sediments in middle/far-field lakes showed significantly negative Hg isotope shifts, while sediments from the 1970s–1990s had Hg isotope values resembling those of near-field lake post-1930 sediments. We suggest that the smelter’s peak Hg emissions during the 1970s–1990s, which coincided with the deployment of a super stack in the mid-1970s, largely increased the long-range dispersion of smelter plumes. For the top post-2000 sediments, the fugitive dust from ore tailings and terrestrial legacy Hg re-emissions dominated Hg deposition in near-field lakes and middle/far-field lakes, respectively. Our study demonstrates that legacy Hg remobilization now exports substantial amounts of Hg to ecosystems, highlighting the need for aggressive remediation measures of Hg-contaminated sites.

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“…Secondly, research to date shows that Hg at Maya sites exhibits very high spatial variability: high levels of Hg are often spatially constrained in "hot spots" while other nearby areas have little or no Hg above background levels (of detection limits). Modern industrial pollutants, such as those from coal-fired power plants, can be a significant source of mercury (Schneider et al, 2021), though the remote locations of most Maya settlements in this review, far from industrial sources, and often deep sedimentary strata samples, and their sealed contexts since the Classic Period, exclude a modern industrial pollution source of the elevated Hg.…”

Section: Ancient Maya Mercury Use Origins Environmental Accumulation ...mentioning

confidence: 93%

Environmental legacy of pre-Columbian Maya mercury

Cook

Beach

Luzzadder–Beach

et al. 2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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The Mexico and Central American region has a history of mercury use that began at least two millennia before European colonisation in the 16th century. Archaeologists have reported extensive deposits of cinnabar (HgS) and other mercury materials in ancient human settlements across the region. However, there has been no consideration to date of the environmental legacy of this long history of anthropogenic mercury use. This review begins by synthesising our knowledge of the history and nature of anthropogenic mercury in ancient Mesoamerica based on archaeological data, with a particular focus on the Maya culture of lowland Guatemala, Belize, the Yucatan of Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras. The Classic Period Maya used mercury for decorative and ceremonial (including funerary) purposes: Cinnabar (HgS) predominantly, but the archaeological record also shows rare finds of elemental mercury (Hg0) in important burial and religious contexts. In this review, we have located and summarised all published data sets collected from (or near) ancient Maya settlements that include environmental mercury measurements. Comparing mercury determinations from pre-Columbian Maya settlements located across the region confirms that seven sites from ten have reported at least one location with mercury concentrations that equal or exceed modern benchmarks for environmental toxicity. The locations with elevated mercury are typically former Maya occupation areas used in the Late Classic Period, situated within large urban settlements abandoned by c. 10th century CE. It is most likely that the mercury detected in buried contexts at Maya archaeological sites is associated with pre-Columbian mercury use, especially of cinnabar. In more complex contexts, where modern biological or specifically anthropogenic inputs are more probable, legacy mercury in the environment will have a more complex, and time transgressive input history. This review identifies current research gaps in our understanding of the long history of Maya mercury use and in the collection of robust total mercury datasets from the Maya world. We identify important areas for future research on the environmental persistence and legacy of mercury, including the need to interpret environment mercury data in the context of mercury exposure and human health at Maya archaeological sites.

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Mercury atmospheric emission, deposition and isotopic fingerprinting from major coal-fired power plants in Australia: Insights from palaeo-environmental analysis from sediment cores

Cited by 23 publications

References 40 publications

Seasonal variation of atmospheric total gaseous mercury and urban air quality in South India

Seasonal variation of atmospheric total gaseous mercury and urban air quality in South India

Mercury Isotope Variations in Lake Sediment Cores in Response to Direct Mercury Emissions from Non-Ferrous Metal Smelters and Legacy Mercury Remobilization

Environmental legacy of pre-Columbian Maya mercury

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