Mercury speciation in sediments of a tropical coastal environment
The speciation of mercury in tropical coastal areas, although scarcely studied, has presented an odd behaviour when compared with the results obtained in temperate environments. In this work, we measured the concentrations of mercury species (mercuric mercury, methyl-mercury and dimethyl-mercury) in...
| Veröffentlicht in: | Environmental technology. - 1993. - 23(2002), 8 vom: 17. Aug., Seite 899-910 |
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| Weitere Verfasser: | , , |
| Format: | Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | English |
| Veröffentlicht: |
2002
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| Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk: | Environmental technology |
| Schlagworte: | Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Methylmercury Compounds Water Pollutants, Chemical dimethyl mercury C60TQU15XY Mercury FXS1BY2PGL |
| Zusammenfassung: | The speciation of mercury in tropical coastal areas, although scarcely studied, has presented an odd behaviour when compared with the results obtained in temperate environments. In this work, we measured the concentrations of mercury species (mercuric mercury, methyl-mercury and dimethyl-mercury) in the sediments of Sepetiba Bay (Brazil) and compared these with geochemical parameters. Twenty-eight sediment samples were extracted in an open microwave system and mercury speciation was carried out by ethylation, cryogenic focusing, gas chromatography and quartz furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Fraction < 63 microm, organic carbon and total sulphur contents and redox potential were measured in order to outline the geochemical characteristics of the sediments. While mercuric mercury presented concentrations ranging between 22.65 and 134.61 ng g(-1), methyl-mercury concentrations ranged between < 2.0 and 4.4 ng g(-1). Only a few dimethyl-mercury concentrations were relatively high (up to 14.6 ng g(-1)). The results of mercuric mercury presented an unexpected positive correlation with sulphur contents showing that mercury is forming stable sulphide complexes, even under very reducing conditions. This would render mercury available for t he formation of methyl- or dimethyl-mercury that would be both fixed in the sediments and volatilised |
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| Beschreibung: | Date Completed 13.02.2003 Date Revised 21.11.2013 published: Print Citation Status MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1479-487X |