Abstract
The concentration of total dissolved mercury (HgT) in surface and groundwater resources in the coastal parts of Urmia aquifer (NW of Iran) was investigated to identify the possible sources and sinks of mercury and the geochemical mechanisms controlling its mobilization. The distribution of water samples on the Piper diagram demonstrates that most samples have the Ca-Mg-HCO3 facies. From 62 water samples collected in this area, one sample contained HgT concentrations exceeding the maximum contaminant level recommended by the WHO (6 μg/L). The principal component analysis (PCA) produced five principal components. The positive moderate correlation of HgT with EC, Cl, K, Mg, and Na indicated that the weathering of geological formations was one of the main sources of mercury in groundwater samples. Position of water samples in Eh-pH regions where microorganisms involved in mercury methylation and mineralization were potentially active demonstrated that the aquifer had undergone sulfate reduction and had reached the final stage of the terminal electron accepting process (TEAP) sequence in the methane production processes which are limited to only 37% of the water samples that have anaerobic conditions. Some Hg-bearing species are in nonequilibrium geochemical conditions. The supersaturation of water samples with magnetite and goethite indicated that these Fe-bearing minerals could act as the strong reducing agents for the reduction of Hg(II) to Hg(0).
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all of the members of the GSI for their kind cooperation that made this research possible. Dr. Peiyue Li is grateful for the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41761144059 and 42072286), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of CHD (300102299301), the Fok Ying Tong Education Foundation (161098), and the Ten Thousand Talent Program (W03070125).
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The research leading to these results received funding from Geological Survey of Iran.
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All authors provided critical feedback and helped shape the research, analysis and manuscript. V. Amiri designed and directed the project. He wrote the paper with input from all authors. P. Li and P. Bhattacharya contributed to the analysis of the results and to the writing of the manuscript. M. Nakhaei and R. Lak contributed to the interpretation of the results.
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Amiri, V., Li, P., Bhattacharya, P. et al. Mercury pollution in the coastal Urmia aquifer in northwestern Iran: potential sources, mobility, and toxicity. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 17546–17562 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11865-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11865-y