Mercury as a global pollutant

Abstract

Abstract. Mercury may be one of the best-documented hazardous substances utilised by man. Still the uncovering of the global human impacts on the environment through the use and mobilisation of mercury cannot be considered complete. Recent mercury depletion events observed in the Arctic have opened the horizon to numerous new aspects on mercury fate and cycling in the environment. This chapter browses various aspects of the extremely complex cycling and fate of mercury in the perspective of mercury as a global pollutant and discusses some new emerging research fields in mercury.

Mercury and Selenium in a Top-Predator Fish, Trichiurus lepturus (Linnaeus, 1758), from the Tropical Brazilian Coast, Rio de Janeiro

“…Furthermore, in the upwelling zones, MeHg is converted into elemental Hg, leading to a supersaturation of the elemental Table 1 Mean Hg and Se concentrations (lg g -1 dry wt.) in muscle tissue of Trichiurus lepturus collected from some regions of South America, the ratios of molar concentrations of Se to Hg in T. lepturus from this study, as well as the respective biological parameters and size intervals Kehrig et al (2009b);d, Di Beneditto et al (2012); e, Kehrig et al (2010); f, Bisi et al (2012) species in surface waters (Poissant et al 2002). The highest Hg concentrations found in cutlassfish from IB and GB can be explained by the fact that, in these areas, Hg methylation can take place both in the water column near the oxycline and in the sediment (Rolfus and Fitzgerald 1995).…”

“…The MeHg formed in these places is transported to the mixed layer where it can be accumulated in the food chain. This accumulation can be observed in communities that live in sediments and in the water column, such as phytoplankton and zooplankton (Poissant et al 2002). Between the bay regions, cutlassfish from GB presented lower Hg concentrations than fish from IB.…”

Évaluation analytique pour le dosage du mercure dans l’eau

“…La valeur recommandée par l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) est fixée à 0,006 milligramme de mercure mercurique par litre [14]. Les principales formes qui existent dans l'environnement, et ses voies de transformation sont illustrées dans les équilibres suivants [15] à cause de sa forte industrialisation, que celles de l'hémisphère sud [19] qui sont encore mal connues [20]. Ce travail vise à valider une méthode spectroscopique moins coûteuse, adaptable à chaque laboratoire pour l'analyse de mercure dans les eaux par absorption atomique à vapeur froide.…”

Chemical and physical transformations of mercury in the ocean: a review

“…Wet and dry deposition of mercury from the atmosphere is among the most significant sources of mercury in marine environments (Poissant et al, 2002). For example, Zagar et al (2014) estimated that atmospheric deposition contributes about 45 % of total mercury input to the Mediterranean Sea.…”

“…Upwelling and ocean currents may play a significant role in mercury transport to open oceans. Divalent mercury can be transported via particles from the upper layers of the ocean to deep ocean areas where the oxygen content is lower (Poissant et al, 2002). The most probable location of methylmercury production in open-ocean environments is the water column, whereas mercury methylation processes in sediments are important in estuarine and shelf zones (Lehnherr et al, 2011;Kirk et al, 2012;Whalin et al, 2007).…”