Speciation and bioavailability of mercury in well-mixed estuarine sediments

Sunderland, Elsie M.; Gobas, Frank A.P.C.; Heyes, Andrew; Branfireun, Brian A.; Bayer, Angelika K.; Cranston, R E; Parsons, Michael B.

doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2004.02.021

Cited by 141 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…10b,c). Similar uniformity of Hg(II) or total Hg in the upper 10 cm of sediment has been observed in other coastal systems (Varekamp et al, 2000;Sunderland et al, 2004;Choe et al, 2004), and, in many cases, it can be attributed to the mixing and homogenization of sediment particles by the within-sediment migration of benthic infauna (Benninger et al, 1979). Profiles of Hg(II) in filtered pore water were less homogeneous, but measured concentrations and the K D of Hg(II) varied by only 2-fold or less with depth at each station (Fig.…”

Section: Stratigraphy Of Hg Speciessupporting

confidence: 82%

Methylmercury cycling in sediments on the continental shelf of southern New England

Hammerschmidt

Fitzgerald

2006

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

169

127

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Exposure of humans to monomethylmercury (MMHg) occurs primarily through consumption of marine fish, yet there is limited understanding concerning the bioaccumulation and biogeochemistry of MMHg in the biologically productive coastal ocean. We examined the cycling of MMHg in sediments at three locations on the continental shelf of southern New Moreover, the efflux of dissolved MMHg to overlying water (i.e., net production at steady state) is correlated with the gross potential rate of MMHg production in surface sediments. These results suggest that the production and efflux of MMHg from coastal marine sediments is limited by Hg(II), loadings of which presumably are principally from atmospheric deposition to this region of the continental shelf. The estimated diffusive flux of MMHg from the shelf sediments averages 9 pmol m −2 d −1 . This flux is comparable to that required to sustain the current rate of MMHg accumulation by marine fish, and may be enhanced by the efflux of MMHg from nearshore deposits contaminated more substantially with anthropogenic Hg. Hence, production and subsequent mobilization of MMHg from sediments in the coastal zone may be a major source of MMHg to the ocean and marine biota, including fishes consumed by humans.

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Section: Stratigraphy Of Hg Speciessupporting

confidence: 82%

Methylmercury cycling in sediments on the continental shelf of southern New England

Hammerschmidt

Fitzgerald

2006

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

169

127

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“…Detectable levels (0.2 to 1.5 ng Hg/g) were found in 70% of B2 and B3 samples (including sediment cores) and accounted for 0.03-0.4% (average: 0.14%) of the THg contents. The proportions of MeHg to THg agreed with the values reported in other works (Bloom et al, 1999;Sunderland et al, 2004;Canário et al, 2005). As shown in Table 3, the MeHg concentrations in 9 sediments from Victoria Harbour were comparable to those from the Polish coast and San Francisco Bay, but still higher than those from the South Florida Estuaries, the Malaysian coast and the Anadyr Estuary.…”

supporting

confidence: 89%

Spatial and temporal variations of mercury in sediments from Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

Shi

Tang

et al. 2007

Marine Pollution Bulletin

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“…Some studies showed that the nearshore seawater is favorable for DGM production and subsequent high Hg(0) emission (e.g., Andersson et al 2007). Therefore, many attentions have been paid to the Hg biogeochemistry in marginal seas in the past decade (e.g., Choe et al 2003;Conaway et al 2003;Gårdfeldt et al 2003;Sunderland et al 2004;Balcom et al 2008;Rothenberg et al 2008;Ci et al 2011b;Faganeli et al 2012;Tong et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass balance of mercury for the Yellow Sea downwind and downstream of East Asia: the preliminary results, uncertainties and future research priorities

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2013

Biogeochemistry

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The Yellow Sea (YS) is a potentially important receptor for enhanced anthropogenic Hg emissions from East Asia. In the past decade, high quality Hg data related to this marine system has a significant increase. Here we review the available total Hg data and then develop the first Hg mass balance to obtain insights into the sources, sinks, pathways and processes regulating the Hg cycle in the YS. The result suggests that a total of 178.9 ± 36.8 kmol Hg is held in the water column with an input of 109.7 ± 17.2 kmol year -1 and an output of 89.7 ± 14.5 kmol year -1. The input mainly comes from atmospheric deposition (56.2 kmol or 51.2 % of the input) and river discharge (25.0 kmol or 22.8 % of the input). The output is dominated by Hg(0) evasion from sea surface (37.2 kmol or 41.5 % of the output) and sedimentation (33.0 kmol or 36.8 % of the output). Although the result shows an increase of Hg in the water column (*11 ± 13 % annually), the high uncertainties of the estimate suggest that this result should be considered carefully. Future mass balance development would benefit from improving the understanding of following processes: tempo-spatial variations of atmospheric Hg deposition (especially the dry deposition), riverine Hg distribution and fate in the estuary, air/sea Hg(0) exchange and the controlling factors, and the waterborne Hg scavenging as well as sedimentation in the open ocean.

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Speciation and bioavailability of mercury in well-mixed estuarine sediments

Cited by 141 publications

References 34 publications

Methylmercury cycling in sediments on the continental shelf of southern New England

Methylmercury cycling in sediments on the continental shelf of southern New England

Spatial and temporal variations of mercury in sediments from Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

Mass balance of mercury for the Yellow Sea downwind and downstream of East Asia: the preliminary results, uncertainties and future research priorities

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