Tracing mercury pathways in Augusta Bay (southern Italy) by total concentration and isotope determination

Mr, Bonsignore; Tamburrino, Stella; Oliveri, Elvira; Marchetti, Andrea; Durante, Caterina; Berni, Alex; Quinci, Enzamaria; Sprovieri, Mario

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2015.05.033

Cited by 52 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Our ndings are consistent with the literature pertaining to the relationship between intake of aquatic species and internal dose of mercury as measured in hair 22,28,[46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60] . Among 66 studies of this relationship identi ed by systematic review, 44 (67%) showed that increasing sh consumption was associated with increasing hair mercury concentrations 19 .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Patterns of Fish and Whale Consumption in Relation to Methylmercury in Hair among Residents of Western Canadian Arctic Communities

Walker

Yuan

Girgis

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Methylmercury contamination of the environment represents a substantial environmental health concern. Human exposure to methylmercury occurs primarily through consumption of fish and marine mammals. Heavily exposed subgroups include sport or subsistence fishers residing in Arctic communities. We aimed to estimate the association of fish/whale consumption patterns of Canadian Arctic subsistence fishers with the internal dose of methylmercury as measured in hair. Methods: This research was conducted within ongoing community projects led by the CAN Help Working Group in Aklavik and Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories and Old Crow, Yukon. We interviewed each participant using a fish-focused food-frequency questionnaire during September-November 2016 and collected hair samples concurrently. Methylmercury was measured in the full-length of each hair sample using gas chromatography inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Multivariable linear regression estimated beta-coefficients and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the effect of fish/whale consumption on hair-methylmercury concentrations. Results: Among 101 participants who provided hair samples and diet data, the mean number of fish/whale species eaten was 3.5 (SD:1.9). The mean hair-methylmercury concentration was 0.60μg/g (SD:0.47). Fish/whale consumption was positively associated with hair-methylmercury concentration, after adjusting for sex, hair length and use of permanent hair treatments. Hair-methylmercury concentrations among participants who consumed the most fish/whale in each season ranged from 0.30- 0.50μg/g higher than those who consumed <1 meal/week. Conclusions: In this population of Canadian Arctic subsistence fishers, hair-methylmercury concentration increased with fish/whale consumption, but the maximum concentrations were below Health Canada’s 6.0μg/g threshold for safe exposure.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Patterns of Fish and Whale Consumption in Relation to Methylmercury in Hair among Residents of Western Canadian Arctic Communities

Walker

Yuan

Girgis

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…By plotting Δ 202 Hg versus Δ 199 Hg signals, the three Hg sources are characterized by distinct “ δ 202 Hg‐Δ 199 Hg” signatures (Figure ). The isotopic signature of industrial Hg can be estimated using Hg polluted sediments with their locations in the vicinity of known industrial sources (Balogh et al, ; Bartov et al, ; Bonsignore et al, ; Cooke et al, ; Donovan et al, ; Guédron et al, ; Ma et al, ; Mil‐Homens et al, ; Gray et al, ; Perrot et al, ; Sonke et al, ; Wiederhold et al, ; Yin et al, ), and hydrothermal ores which are the major source of Hg used in industry (Blum & Bergquist, ; Cooke et al, ; Feng et al, ; Foucher & Hintelmann, ; Gray et al, ; Smith et al, ; Stetson et al, ; Wiederhold et al, ; Yin et al, ). Based on the summarization of previous data, we estimated that industrial Hg has mean δ 202 Hg of −0.53 ± 0.51‰ and mean Δ 199 Hg of −0.02 ± 0.11‰ (σ, n = 481).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury Inputs to Chinese Marginal Seas: Impact of Industrialization and Development of China

Yin

Guo

Hu³

et al. 2018

JGR Oceans

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In the past decades, China has experienced substantial economic growth and industrialization. However, the effects of vast development of China on Hg input to the nearby oceans are still unclear. In this study, the influx and isotopic compositions of Hg in four 210Pb‐dated sediment cores were examined to investigate changes in Hg deposition to the marginal seas off China over a century. Nearshore cores had higher Hg influxes than offshore cores. Increases of Hg influxes started since the 1950s, which coincides with China's economic development. Dramatic historical changes in Hg isotopic composition were observed in the cores (δ202Hg: −2.01‰ to −0.69‰; Δ199Hg: −0.16‰ to 0.31‰; n = 106). δ202Hg increased from the deep to the surface layers of the cores. The offshore cores mainly showed positive Δ199Hg values, but the pre‐1950 samples had more positive Δ199Hg values than the younger samples. The nearshore cores mainly showed negative Δ199Hg values in the pre‐1950s samples, but the younger samples showed Δ199Hg values close to zero. A triple‐mixing isotope model, used to quantify the contribution of potential Hg inputs (e.g., direct discharge of industrial Hg, soil Hg, and precipitation‐derived Hg), showed clear evidence of enhanced industrial Hg inputs to the ocean margin, but slightly decreased watershed soil Hg inputs in the last few decades. The variations of watershed‐derived Hg were likely caused by the construction of impoundments in major rivers of China. This study demonstrates that mercury inputs to Chinese marginal seas have been largely altered due to the industrialization and economic development of China.

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“…In particular, a huge amount of Hg from one of the largest European chloralkali plants (Syndial Priolo Gargallo) was discharged into the sea without any treatment until the 1970s, when waste treatment became operational (Bellucci et al, 2012). Although discharge activities were definitively stopped in 2005, the Hg contamination from the chlor-alkali plant remains a critical environmental threat, with extremely high [Hg] in the bottom sediments (ICRAM, 2008;Sprovieri et al, 2011;, significant Hg evasion fluxes from sediments to seawater (Salvagio Manta et al, 2016) and to the atmosphere (Bagnato et al, 2013;Sprovieri, 2015), and evident and recently documented risks for the ecosystem (Tomasello et al, 2012;Bonsignore et al, 2013) and for human health (Bianchi et al, 2006;Bonsignore et al, 2015Bonsignore et al, , 2016. The geographical position, together with its geological and oceanographic features, assigns this area a key role in the Hg inventory at Mediterranean scale.…”

Section: The Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

HR3DHG version 1: modeling the spatiotemporal dynamics of mercury in the Augusta Bay (southern Italy)

et al. 2020

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Abstract. The biogeochemical dynamics of Hg, and specifically of its three species Hg0, HgII, and MeHg (elemental, inorganic, and organic, respectively), in the marine coastal area of Augusta Bay (southern Italy) have been explored by the high-resolution 3D Hg (HR3DHG) model, namely an advection–diffusion–reaction model for dissolved mercury in the seawater compartment coupled with a diffusion–reaction model for dissolved mercury in the pore water of sediments in which the desorption process for the sediment total mercury is taken into account. The spatiotemporal variability of the mercury concentration in both seawater ([HgD]) and the first layers of bottom sediments ([HgDsed] and [HgTsed]), as well as the Hg fluxes at the boundaries of the 3D model domain, have been theoretically reproduced, showing acceptable agreement with the experimental data collected in multiple field observations during six different oceanographic cruises. Also, the spatiotemporal dynamics of the total mercury concentration in seawater have been obtained by using both model results and field observations. The mass balance of the total Hg species in seawater has been calculated for the Augusta Harbour, improving previous estimations. The HR3DHG model could be used as an effective tool to predict the spatiotemporal distributions of dissolved and total mercury concentrations, while contributing to better assessing hazards for the environment and therefore for human health in highly polluted areas.

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Tracing mercury pathways in Augusta Bay (southern Italy) by total concentration and isotope determination

Cited by 52 publications

References 38 publications

Patterns of Fish and Whale Consumption in Relation to Methylmercury in Hair among Residents of Western Canadian Arctic Communities

Patterns of Fish and Whale Consumption in Relation to Methylmercury in Hair among Residents of Western Canadian Arctic Communities

Mercury Inputs to Chinese Marginal Seas: Impact of Industrialization and Development of China

HR3DHG version 1: modeling the spatiotemporal dynamics of mercury in the Augusta Bay (southern Italy)

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