Much of the mercury contamination in aquatic biota originates from coal-fired power plants, point sources that release mercury into the atmosphere. Understanding mercury dynamics is primarily important because of the toxic threat mercury poses to wildlife and humans through the consumption of contaminated fish. In this study, we quantified the relative importance of proximity to coal-fired powe...

A number of ninety-six hair samples from Sicilian fishermen were examined for total mercury detection by an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) method. The mercury levels obtained were compared with mercury levels of 96 hair samples from a control group, in order to assess potential exposure to heavy metals of Sicilian fishermen due to fish consumption and closeness to industr...

Persian Gulf supports diverse ecosystems and biota in need of remediation and protection and metal data from this region is needed. The levels of mercury in tissues of blue swimming crab, Portunus pelagicus and sediments from the Persian Gulf coasts, south Iran were investigated. Mercury analysis was performed by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The distribution pattern of mercury in the ti...

Whereas many ecosystem characteristics and processes influence mercury accumulation in higher trophic-level organisms, the mercury flux from the atmosphere to a lake and its watershed is a likely factor in potential risk to biota. Atmospheric deposition clearly affects mercury accumulation in soils and lake sediments. Thus, knowledge of spatial patterns in atmospheric deposition may provide inf...

Eighteen cadavers from routine autopsy casework were subject to a study of tissue levels of total mercury in brain, thyroid, and kidney samples by atomic absorption. On these same cadavers, all dental amalgam fillings (the most important source of inorganic mercury exposure in the general population, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) were charted. Total mercury levels were signif...

A series of batch and column laboratory experiments were conducted to determine adsorption coefficients of mercury (II) for Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) soil. The experimental setup used soil collected from an area offsite of the ORR, in a location upstream of East Fork Poplar Creek (EFPC). The batch equilibrium experiments were conducted in the range of 600 to 5,000 μg/L of initial Hg(II) conce...

We reviewed literature reporting both total and methylmercury from biota from Acadia National Park, Maine, USA. Our review of existing data indicates that 1) mercury contamination is widespread throughout the Park's various aquatic ecosystems; 2) mercury pollution likely represents a moderate to high risk to biota inhabiting the Park; and 3) biota at all trophic levels possess elevated concentr...

this study was undertaken to determine the concentration of mercury in edible muscle of five commercially valuable marine organisms from mosa bay, persian gulf, iran. the total mercury concentrations were determined by cold vapour atomic absorption spectrophotometry and expressed in μg/g dry weight. certified reference materials were used for each batch of analysis. mercury concentration was 0....

A hydride-generation atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) method was developed for the analysis of total Hg in liquid matrices of mercury-rich plants and mine tailings samples. The detection limit for this method was as low as 11.4 ng/mL. The reproducibility of the mercury signals (in terms of relative standard deviation) was 4.6%. Accuracy of the method was verified by analyses of deionised wa...

We present results from a new global atmospheric mercury model coupled with a mixed layer slab ocean. The ocean model describes the interactions of the mixed layer with the atmosphere and deep ocean, as well as conversion between elemental, divalent, and non-reactive mercury species. Our global mean aqueous concentrations of 0.07 pM elemental, 0.80 pM reactive, and 1.51 pM total mercury agree w...