Endogenic methylmercury in a eutrophic lake during the formation and decay of seston

Abstract

Abstract. Anoxic microniches in sinking particles in lakes have been identified as important water phase production zones of monomethylmercury (MeHg) (endogenic MeHg). However, the production and decay of MeHg during organic matter (OM) decomposition in the water column and its relation to the total Hg concentration in seston are poorly understood. We investigated Hg speciation and chemical changes in sinking seston in a small and shallow (12-m-deep) eutrophic lake during phytoplankton blooms from April to November 2019. The results show that MeHg proportions are high in seston at the water surface (up to 22 %) and at the oxic-suboxic redox boundary (up to 26 %). During suboxic OM decomposition, and with decreasing redox-potential, the concentration and proportion of MeHg in seston strongly decrease (< 0.5 %) as the water depth increases. Under these conditions, total Hg concentrations show a 3.8 to 26-fold increase. In the hypolimnion environment, changes in MeHg proportions were minimal in sinking seston, and samples collected by sediment traps had MeHg values similar to those measured at the sediment-water interface, though higher MeHg concentrations were found deeper in the sediment. Our results indicate that cycling of MeHg and total Hg (THg) in seston within small productive lakes is largely controlled by the decomposition processes of settling seston and that the endogenic MeHg pool appears to be largely disconnected from the sedimentary MeHg pool.