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Exchange pattern of gaseous elemental mercury in landfill: mercury deposition under vegetation coverage and interactive effects of multiple meteorological conditions

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Abstract

Landfill is known as a potential source of atmospheric Hg and an important component of the local or regional atmospheric Hg budget. This study investigated the gaseous elemental Hg surface–air fluxes under differing conditions at a typical municipal solid waste landfill site, highlighting the interactive effects of plant coverage and meteorological conditions. The results indicated that Hg fluxes exhibited a feature represented by diel variation. In particular, Hg deposition was observed under a condition of Kochia sieversiana coverage, whereas emission that occurred after K. sieversiana was removed. Hg emission was the dominant mode under conditions of Setaria viridis coverage and its removal; however, the average Hg emission flux with the S. viridis coverage was nearly four times lower than after its removal. These findings verified that the plant coverage should be a key factor influencing the Hg emission from landfills. In addition, Hg fluxes were correlated positively with solar radiation and air/soil temperature and correlated inversely with relative humidity under all conditions, except K. sieversiana coverage. This suggested that the interactive effects of meteorological conditions and plant coverage played a jointly significant role in the Hg emission from landfills. It was established that K. sieversiana can inhibit Hg emission efficiently, and therefore, it could potentially be suitable for use as a plant-based method to control Hg pollution from landfills.

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Funding information

This work was supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51278357 and No. 51678427).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, Republic of China

    Zhengkai Tao, Meng Zhou & Xiaoli Chai

  2. Jinan Environmental Research Institute, Jinan, 250100, People’s Republic of China

    Yang Liu

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  1. Zhengkai Tao
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  2. Yang Liu
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  3. Meng Zhou
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  4. Xiaoli Chai
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Correspondence to Xiaoli Chai.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Tao, Z., Liu, Y., Zhou, M. et al. Exchange pattern of gaseous elemental mercury in landfill: mercury deposition under vegetation coverage and interactive effects of multiple meteorological conditions. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 26586–26593 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0275-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0275-9

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