High-precision measurement of mercury isotope ratios of atmospheric deposition over the past 150 years recorded in a peat core taken from Hongyuan, Sichuan Province, China

Abstract

High-precision measurement of mercury isotope ratios of atmospheric deposition over the past 150 years recorded in a peat core taken from Hongyuan, Sichuan Province, China High-precision 210 Pb dating technology was applied to a peat core with a time span of about 150 years that was taken from Hongyuan, Sichuan Province, China. The concentrations of total mercury (Hg) and stable isotope compositions of mercury in the peat core were measured using a LUMEX 915 instrument and multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer, respectively. Total mercury (Hg) concentrations in the peat core had a clearly increasing trend from the bottom to top of the core while δ 202 Hg values ranged from -0.44‰ ± 0.14‰ to -1.45‰ ± 0.22‰. We clearly show that the study area experienced mercury pollution after the industrial revolution, and the mercury emitted from natural sources and anthropogenic sources had different Hg isotope signatures. peat, ombrotrophic, mercury, isotope, industrialization Citation:Shi W F, Feng X B, Zhang G, et al. High-precision measurement of mercury isotope ratios of atmospheric deposition over the past 150 years recorded in a peat core taken from Hongyuan,

Mercury Stable Isotopic Compositions in Coals from Major Coal Producing Fields in China and Their Geochemical and Environmental Implications

“…As shown in Table 2, coal samples in these regions are characterized by the lower THg and the lowest C S content, which probably indicates less hydrothermal activity imprint. 56 Similar to the modern plants [61][62][63]69 and peat samples, 75,76 the coals in these regions have significant MIF of Hg isotopes with a Δ 199 Hg/Δ 201 Hg ratio of ∼1.0 ( Figure S3, Supporting Information). Hence, we hypothesized that the biogenic Hg may be the dominant source of Hg in coals of these regions and Hg is mainly associated with organic matters.…”

Mass-independent fractionation of even mercury isotopes

“…The odd-MIF were reported in a large set of environmental, geological, and biological samples, including atmospheric samples [23-25, 36-39, 42, 49, 50], sediments [49,[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67], soils [37, [68][69][70], peats [71], rocks [72], coals [24,68,73,74], mosses and lichens [50, [75][76][77], human hairs [78][79][80], plants [37,50,81], fishes [3,62,78,[80][81][82][83], and even seabirds [53,84]. Blum et al [22] have given a detail description of these data in a recent review article.…”

Mercury Isotopes as Proxies to Identify Sources and Environmental Impacts of Mercury in Sphalerites

“…2 , previous studies reported large Hg-MIF mainly in the surface of the crust, such as soil 39 40 41 , sediments 42 43 44 , water 45 46 47 , atmosphere 48 49 and biological samples 14 50 51 52 . Sedimentation 42 43 44 , coalification 37 38 and hydrothermal leaching of Hg from source-rocks 20 have been shown unlikely to alter the MIF signature of Hg; the Hg-MIF signature has been observed in coals (∆ 199 Hg: −0.66 to +0.38‰) 37 38 40 53 , peat bogs (∆ 199 Hg: −0.50 to +0.22‰) 54 55 , and black shales 56 . Although no ∆ 199 Hg data were reported, ∆ 201 Hg values in sedimentary rocks (−0.10 to +0.28‰) have shown larger Hg-MIF compared to the metamorphic rocks (−0.06 to +0.03‰) and volcanic rocks (−0.09 to +0.05‰) in California Coast Ranges, USA 4 .…”