Modern and Historic Atmospheric Mercury Fluxes in Northern Alaska: Global Sources and Arctic Depletion

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2004 papers

Abstract

We reconstruct from lake-sediment archives atmospheric Hg deposition to Arctic Alaska over the last several centuries and constrain a contemporary lake/watershed mass-balance with real-time measurement of Hg fluxes in rainfall, runoff, and evasion. Results indicate that (a) anthropogenic Hg impact in the Arctic is of similar magnitude to that at temperate latitudes; (b) whole-lake Hg sedimentation determined from 55 210Pb-dated cores from the five small lakes demonstrates a 3-fold increase in atmospheric Hg deposition since the advent of the Industrial Revolution; (c) because of high soil Hg concentrations and relatively low atmospheric deposition fluxes, erosional inputs to these lakes are more significant than in similar temperate systems; (d) volatilization accounts for about 20% of the Hg losses (evasion and sedimentation); and (e) another source term is needed to balance the evasional and sedimentation sinks. This additional flux (1.21+/-0.74 microg m(-2) yr(-1)) is comparable to direct atmospheric Hg deposition and may be due to some combination of springtime Arctic depletion and more generalized deposition of reactive gaseous Hg species.

Related Papers

• → Mercury distribution in a polluted marine area, ratio of total mercury, methyl mercury and selenium in sediments, mussels and fish(1985)55 cited
• → Analysis of Mercury of Fishes and Soils of Agano River(1968)4 cited
• → Speciation of Mercury Excreted in Feces from Individuals with Amalgam Fillings(1998)18 cited
• → Mercury Evaporation from Amalgams with Varied Mercury Contents.(2000)2 cited
• Pollution of Mobile and Toxic Mercury in Soils from Wenzhou City(2013)