Total mercury and methylmercury distributions in surface sediments from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, Norwegian Arctic

Liu, Yang; Chai, Xin‐Sheng; Hao, Yongxia; Gao, Xiaofeng; Lu, Zhibo; Zhao, Youcai; Zhang, Jie; Cai, Minghong

doi:10.1007/s11356-014-3942-0

Cited by 22 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…3). These results support earlier studies showing that sediments with high OM are typically characterized by high Hg concentrations in the North Slope of Alaska, the Yukon River basin in the Canadian Arctic, and Kongsfjorden on Spitsbergen 10,16,37,38 .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Input of terrestrial organic matter linked to deglaciation increased mercury transport to the Svalbard fjords

Kim

Kwon

Lee

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Deglaciation has accelerated the transport of minerals as well as modern and ancient organic matter from land to fjord sediments in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, in the European Arctic Ocean. Consequently, such sediments may contain significant levels of total mercury (THg) bound to terrestrial organic matter. The present study compared THg contents in surface sediments from three fjord settings in Spitsbergen: Hornsund in the southern Spitsbergen, which has high annual volume of loss glacier and receives sediment from multiple tidewater glaciers, Dicksonfjorden in the central Spitsbergen, which receives sediment from glacifluvial rivers, and Wijdefjorden in the northern Spitsbergen, which receive sediments from a mixture of tidewater glaciers and glacifluvial rivers. Our results showed that the THg (52 ± 15 ng g −1) bound to organic matter (OM) was the highest in the Hornsund surface sediments, where the glacier loss (0.44 km 3 yr −1) and organic carbon accumulation rates (9.3 ~ 49.4 g m −2 yr −1) were elevated compared to other fjords. Furthermore, the δ 13 C (-27 ~-24‰) and δ 34 S values (-10 ~ 15‰) of OM indicated that most of OM were originated from terrestrial sources. Thus, the temperature-driven glacial melting could release more oM originating from the meltwater or terrestrial materials, which are available for THg binding in the European Arctic fjord ecosystems. Increasing temporal trends of total mercury (THg) concentration in the sediments of the Arctic continental shelves and lakes have recently been reported 1,2. These increasing levels have been proposed to be caused by the long-distance transport of anthropogenic mercury (Hg) from industrialized countries to the Arctic, given its long atmospheric lifetime of 0.3 to 2 years 3,4. In addition, it has been shown that ' Atmospheric Mercury Depletion Events' (AMDE) in the spring can lead to high Hg deposition in the Arctic Ocean. Reactive Hg (Hg 2+) is rapidly formed through in situ oxidation of gaseous Hg° by halogens (i.e., atomic Br and radical BrO), which are generated by solar irradiation through O 3 destruction 5-7. However, previous measurements of atmospheric Hg deposition in the Arctic regions have revealed relatively low deposition rates of <5 µg m −2 yr −1 8. Recent studies have suggested that natural processes governing Hg release via riverine transport 9 , soil runoff, and/or discharge of water coming from thawing permafrost 10 could be important sources of Hg to the Arctic environments. Fjords on Svalbard, the main island of the Svalbard archipelago, is among the most studied fjord systems in the world 11. Previous studies have focused on the effects of local and/or long-range transport, oceanic currents, and long-term sediment deposition rates (i.e., geological and chemical processes that control Hg distribution in surface and core sediments) 4,12-17 on spatial distribution and the extent of accumulation of Hg in the fjord sediment. Recent studies have shown that fjords are effective sequesters of organic carbon among other marine

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Input of terrestrial organic matter linked to deglaciation increased mercury transport to the Svalbard fjords

Kim

Kwon

Lee

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…The present study observed a mean total mercury concentration of 0.022 ppm in Site 1 and 0.014 ppm in site 2. Liu et al inspected both total mercury and methyl mercury concentrations in the surface sediments of Kongsfjorden, Svalbard and showed that concentrations of total mercury ranged from 9.11 to 86.73 ng g −1 , while average concentrations of methyl mercury was 0.11 ng g −1 . Increasing concentration of mercury in an ecosystem may develop tolerant microorganisms that could detoxify the contaminant from the system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury tolerance and biosorption in bacteria isolated from Ny‐Ålesund, Svalbard, Arctic

et al. 2018

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Mercury tolerant bacteria Pseudarthrobacter oxydans strain MM20 and Pseudomonas frederiksbergensis strain SS18 were isolated from the tundra ecosystem of Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, where commercial exploitation of the coal existed till 1960s. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), mercury removal, mercury biosorption, and antibiotic resistance of these strains were analyzed. P. frederiksbergensis strain SS18 showed high tolerance (2.0 ppm) to mercury than P. oxydans strain MM20 (1.5 ppm). Mercury removal and biosorption studies were carried out in liquid media containing 1.0 ppm mercury. More than 90% of mercury was removed from the culture media by the selected strains. The mercury biosorption assay revealed that a part of mercury was accumulated in cell pellets and was 22 and 25% respectively for P. oxydans strain MM20 and P. frederiksbergensis strain SS18. Fourier transform infrared study revealed that alkyl halide, alkynes, alcoholic, aliphatic and aromatic amines, alkanes, nitro compound, primary amines, carboxylic acid, alkenes, and amide groups play a major role in the development of tolerance towards mercury. Out of eleven antibiotics tested, P. oxydans strain MM20 was found to be resistant to lincomycin and novobiocin while P. frederiksbergensis strain SS18 was found to be resistant to seven antibiotics. Our study demonstrates that under experimental conditions, bacterial isolates undergo detailed structural and functional changes to tolerate as well as immobilize toxic elements like mercury.

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“…For example, observations in fjords in northwestern Svalbard suggest that glacial meltwater plumes could reduce the phytoplankton biomass (Piquet et al, 2014), and this might effectively limit MeHg production and uptake in the marine food chain. Furthermore, the high deposition rates of inorganic matter near tidewater glaciers, or at the mouth of proglacial channels, dilute the organic matter content in the seafloor sediments of Svalbard fjords (Liu et al, 2015), and this might limit benthic Hg methylation. On the whole, therefore, the environmental impact of Hg releases from melting glaciers and ice caps is likely to be local, rather than widespread across the Arctic.…”

Section: Glaciersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arctic methylmercury cycling

Jonsson

Mastromonaco

Wang

et al. 2022

Science of The Total Environment

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Total mercury and methylmercury distributions in surface sediments from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, Norwegian Arctic

Cited by 22 publications

References 30 publications

Input of terrestrial organic matter linked to deglaciation increased mercury transport to the Svalbard fjords

Input of terrestrial organic matter linked to deglaciation increased mercury transport to the Svalbard fjords

Mercury tolerance and biosorption in bacteria isolated from Ny‐Ålesund, Svalbard, Arctic

Arctic methylmercury cycling

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