Extremely elevated methyl mercury levels in water, sediment and organisms in a Romanian reservoir affected by release of mercury from a chlor-alkali plant

Bravo, Andrea G.; Cosio, Claudia; Amouroux, David; Zopfi, Jakob; Chevalley, Pierre-Alain; Spangenberg, Jorge E.; Ungureanu, Viorel-Gheorghe; Dominik, Janusz

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2013.10.024

Cited by 101 publications

(114 citation statements)

References 63 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…cell -1 Hg concentrations in the natural environment that were considerably lower than the phytoplankton subjected to Hg exposure in the laboratory, indicating the low assimilation of Hg by phytoplankton in nature. These results were in line with earlier studies [12,23,31].…”

Section: Hg Concentrations In Phytoplankton (Level I)supporting

confidence: 93%

“…BCF and BAF were determined by the following equation [18]: BCF = Hg concentration in phytoplankton Hg concentration in seawater (1) BAF = Hg concentration in secondary consumers Hg concentration in primary consumer (2) Results and Discussion ) during 2016-17. This was within the concentrations compared to the Hg levels observed by earlier investigators [23,[31][32]. This was also lower than 0.94 µg .…”

Section: Hg Analysissupporting

confidence: 84%

“…g -1 ) concentrations as well, plus bioaccumulation studies (30 d) using the DMA-80 [31][32][33][34]. Quality control was assured following the use of blanks, controls, and standard reference materials from BCR, IAEA, NIST, and NRC (CRM-414 phytoplankton powder), (MA-A-1/ TM copepod), (SRM:1566b oyster tissue), and (CRM: DORM-2 dogfish muscle) [35][36].…”

Section: Hg Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Effect of Mercury Transfer from Producer to Consumer in a Marine Environment

Bu-Olayan¹,

Thomas²

2017

Pol. J. Environ. Stud.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Hg Concentrations In Phytoplankton (Level I)supporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Hg Analysissupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Hg Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Effect of Mercury Transfer from Producer to Consumer in a Marine Environment

Bu-Olayan¹,

Thomas²

2017

Pol. J. Environ. Stud.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Although atmospheric emissions dominate Hg inputs on a global scale, the direct release of Hg from industrial processes has impacted numerous sites (Stewart et al 2011;Bravo et al 2014). Hg release from chlor-alkali plants is a well-recognized point source of Hg pollution in the aquatic environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the past 10 years, we have intensively studied the impact of an active chlor-alkali plant using both Hg-cell and Hg-free units in Romania (Bravo et al 2009(Bravo et al , 2010(Bravo et al , 2014Regier et al 2013). The Babeni Reservoir directly receiving wastewater discharges of the chlor-alkali plant in 2009 showed extremely high MeHg levels in sediments (~30 ng g dry weight in fish) with plankton and macrophytes identified as the main entry of Hg into the food chain (Table 1; Bravo et al 2014). Particularly, a high MeHg production was observed deep in the water column and at the sediment-water interface of the Babeni Reservoir.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persistent Hg contamination and occurrence of Hg-methylating transcript (hgcA) downstream of a chlor-alkali plant in the Olt River (Romania)

Bravo

Loizeau

Dranguet

et al. 2015

Environ Sci Pollut Res

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Chlor-alkali plants using mercury (Hg) cell technology are acute point sources of Hg pollution in the aquatic environment. While there have been recent efforts to reduce the use of Hg cells, some of the emitted Hg can be transformed to neurotoxic methylmercury (MeHg). Here, we aimed (i) to study the dispersion of Hg in four reservoirs located downstream of a chlor-alkali plant along the Olt River (Romania) and (ii) to track the activity of bacterial functional genes involved in Hg methylation. Total Hg (THg) concentrations in water and sediments decreased successively from the initial reservoir to downstream reservoirs. Suspended fine size particles and seston appeared to be responsible for the transport of THg into downstream reservoirs, while macrophytes reflected the local bioavailability of Hg. The concentration and proportion of MeHg were correlated with THg, but were not correlated with bacterial activity in sediments, while the abundance of hgcA transcript correlated with organic matter and Cl− concentration, indicating the importance of Hg bioavailability in sediments for Hg methylation. Our data clearly highlights the importance of considering Hg contamination as a legacy pollutant since there is a high risk of continued Hg accumulation in food webs long after Hg-cell phase out

show abstract

The effect of lake browning and respiration mode on the burial and fate of carbon and mercury in the sediment of two boreal lakes

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In many northern temperate regions, the water color of lakes has increased over the past decades ("lake browning"), probably caused by an increased export of dissolved organic matter from soils. We investigated if the increase in water color in two lakes in Norway has resulted in increased burial of organic carbon (OC) and mercury (Hg) in the sediments and if the Hg was prone to methylation. Lake Solbergvann experienced a threefold water color increase, and OC burial increased approximately twofold concomitant to the water color increase. This lake had prolonged periods of anoxic bottom water, and anoxic OC mineralization rates were only about half of the oxic OC mineralization rates (7.7 and 17.5 g C m À2 yr À1 , respectively), contributing to an efficient OC burial. In Lake Elvåga, where water color increase was only approximately twofold and bottom water was oxygenated, no recent increase in OC burial could be observed. Hg burial increased strongly in both lakes (threefold and 1.6-fold in Lake Solbergvann and Lake Elvåga, respectively), again concomitant to the recent water color increase. The proportion of methylated Hg (MeHg) in surficial sediment was 1 order of magnitude higher in Lake Elvåga (up to 6% MeHg) than in Lake Solbergvann (0.2-0.6% MeHg), probably related to the different oxygenation regimes. We conclude that lake browning can result in increased OC and Hg burial in lake sediments, but the extent of browning and the dominating mode of sediment respiration (aerobic or anaerobic) strongly affect burial and fate of OC and Hg in sediments.

show abstract

Extremely elevated methyl mercury levels in water, sediment and organisms in a Romanian reservoir affected by release of mercury from a chlor-alkali plant

Cited by 101 publications

References 63 publications

Effect of Mercury Transfer from Producer to Consumer in a Marine Environment

Effect of Mercury Transfer from Producer to Consumer in a Marine Environment

Persistent Hg contamination and occurrence of Hg-methylating transcript (hgcA) downstream of a chlor-alkali plant in the Olt River (Romania)

The effect of lake browning and respiration mode on the burial and fate of carbon and mercury in the sediment of two boreal lakes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About