Mercury contamination history of an estuarine floodplain reconstructed from a 210Pb-dated sediment core (Berg River, South Africa)

Kading, Tristan; Mason, Robert P.; Leaner, Joy

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.02.020

Cited by 36 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…After a short heating period, the mercury released was measurement by atomic absorption. 1,3 Triplicates were run on all of the samples, and standards reference material was run between every eight samples.…”

Section: Direct Mercury Analyzermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mercury (Hg) is widely used as a catalyst in the manufacture of sodium hydroxide, gold mining, manufacture of batteries and thermometers, as fungicides, herbicides and disinfectants. 1 As a highly toxic metal, it is considered to be a global pollutant 2,3 . South Africa is the world's sixth largest producer of coal; 3,4,5,6 coal provides about 75 % of the country's primary energy needs and over 90 % of its electricity is coaldriven.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1 As a highly toxic metal, it is considered to be a global pollutant 2,3 . South Africa is the world's sixth largest producer of coal; 3,4,5,6 coal provides about 75 % of the country's primary energy needs and over 90 % of its electricity is coaldriven. 3,7 Almost all the Hg present in the coal, >90 % 8 is vapourized and released in the form of elemental Hg.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…South Africa is the world's sixth largest producer of coal; 3,4,5,6 coal provides about 75 % of the country's primary energy needs and over 90 % of its electricity is coaldriven. 3,7 Almost all the Hg present in the coal, >90 % 8 is vapourized and released in the form of elemental Hg. The largest emissions of Hg in South Africa are from coal-fired power plants, with an estimated contribution of 78 %.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The use of the direct mercury analyzer (DMA) is becoming very popular for total mercury analysis. 3 It is the standard method employed by the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research; Natural Resources and the Environment) for total mercury analysis. No pre-treatment of the sample is required and it is suitable for solid and liquid samples.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Determination of mercury in selected polluted sediments using HPLC-ICP-MS in Westbank area, Western Cape, South Africa

Roux¹,

Baker²,

Crouch³

2016

S.Afr.j.chem.

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High selectivity, excellent linearity and reproducibility were achieved using HPLC-ICP-MS method for mercury in sediments. The HPLC-ICP-MS method reported previously for mercury in biota analysis was adapted in terms of operational consumables and optimized for the efficient mercury determination in riverbed sediments; a first for South Africa. Results obtained for real environmental samples, were verified by Direct Mercury Analysis (DMA) by an accredited laboratory. The determination of inorganic and organic mercury compounds in sediments was based on the complexation of mercury compounds with cysteine. The separation was achieved on a reversed-phase C 18 column (15 cm × 4.6 mm id) using aqueous 0.1 % w/v L-cysteine·HCl + 0.1 % w/v L-cysteine mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.8 mL min -1 at ambient temperature. The method was found to be suitable for the routine analysis of Hg compounds in sediments as well as aqueous media and was developed to determine the influence of humic substances on the bioavailability of mercury species. The results were comparable and consistent with those determined with a Direct Mercury Analyzer. The detection limit for methylmercury, ethylmercury and inorganic mercury were lower than 10 ng L -1 and recoveries for spiked samples was >90 % . The accuracy of the method was assessed by the analysis of certified reference material (European Reference Material ERMCC580 and Tort-2) and found to be in good agreement. Mercury concentration was determined in sediments collected from the Eerste Kuils River, Westbank area, Kuilsriver, Western Cape, South Africa. Mercury concentration was determined to vary from 2-14 ng g -1 (w.wt).

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Section: Direct Mercury Analyzermentioning

confidence: 99%