Mercury in the natural environment : a review of recent work

Abstract

A review on mercury in the natural environment is presented to cover the literature published since the last major review which is that of James (1962). Together with the treatise by Saukov (1946) these two earlier works provide a full background on the relevant chemistry and geochemistry of mercury which is not duplicated in this report. Sections on analysis for mercury and its compounds, mercury in natural waters, aspects of pollution by mercury, mercury in soils and recent advances in the geochemistry of mercury in ores and rocks are included. A bibliography of more than three hundred published papers is included.

The Nature of Mercury in Chernozemic and Luvisolic Soils in Alberta

“…in mercury (Cameron and Jonasson 1972; Mercury is naturally present in soil in Jonasson 1970) and may contribute to concentrations usually ranging fiom a few elevated levels of mercury in soil. parts per billion to a few hundred parts per…”

Tin and Mercury

“…The main mercury mineral, cinnabar, is highly insoluble; together with the strong tendency to sorb to soil components, this results in mercury being relatively immobile in soils [57,58]. The chemical behaviour of mercury in soils is dominated by pH, E h and organic matter and is well described by a number of authors (for example [59][60][61]).…”

Mercury: Environmental considerations, Part II

“…However, numerous investigations of soil gases for their elemental mercury content as a possible means of prospecting for ores can be found. These studies include the work of Jonasson, 28 Trost and Bisque, 428 Hawkes and Williston, 430 Coetzee,209 McCarthy et al, 111 Barringer,431 " 433 and Weiss. 434 The work by Warren et al, 100 Koksoy and Bradshaw, 97 and Aidin'yan et al 435 demonstrated adsorption of elemental mercury in the vapor phase on clays.…”