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Biogeochemical controls on mercury methylation in the Allequash Creek wetland

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Abstract

We measured mercury methylation potentials and a suite of related biogeochemical parameters in sediment cores and porewater from two geochemically distinct sites in the Allequash Creek wetland, northern Wisconsin, USA. We found a high degree of spatial variability in the methylation rate potentials but no significant differences between the two sites. We identified the primary geochemical factors controlling net methylmercury production at this site to be acid-volatile sulfide, dissolved organic carbon, total dissolved iron, and porewater iron(II). Season and demethylation rates also appear to regulate net methylmercury production. Our equilibrium speciation modeling demonstrated that sulfide likely regulated methylation rates by controlling the speciation of inorganic mercury and therefore its bioavailability to methylating bacteria. We found that no individual geochemical parameter could explain a significant amount of the observed variability in mercury methylation rates, but we found significant multivariate relationships, supporting the widely held understanding that net methylmercury production is balance of several simultaneously occurring processes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Brice Gu, Krysta Koralesky, Amy Kolpin, and Emily Kara for the field and lab assistance, and the University of Wisconsin – Madison Trout Lake Station for the lab space, vehicle use, and logistical support. This work was funded in part by the Wisconsin Groundwater Research and Monitoring Program (Grants WR09R003 and WR07R008). Joel Creswell was supported in part by an EPA STAR Fellowship (FP-91687801). EPA has not endorsed this publication and the views expressed herein may not reflect the views of the EPA.

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  1. Christopher L. Babiarz

    Present address: Wisconsin Water Science Center,U.S. Geological Survey, 8505 Research Way, Middleton, WI, 53562, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Chemistry and Technology Program, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 660 N. Park St, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Joel E. Creswell, Martin M. Shafer, Christopher L. Babiarz, Sue-Zanne Tan, Abbey L. Musinsky, Trevor H. Schott, Eric E. Roden & David E. Armstrong

  2. U.S. House of Representatives, 2346 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington DC, 20515, USA

    Joel E. Creswell

  3. Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, 2601 Agriculture Dr, Madison, WI, 53718, USA

    Martin M. Shafer

  4. Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1215 W. Dayton St, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Eric E. Roden

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  1. Joel E. Creswell
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Creswell, J.E., Shafer, M.M., Babiarz, C.L. et al. Biogeochemical controls on mercury methylation in the Allequash Creek wetland. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 15325–15339 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9094-2

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