Abstract
The global mobilization and biogeochemical cycling of Hg at the Earth’s surface has been studied using a variety of mass balance formulations [e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. The prominent role of atmospheric and oceanic processes, and anthropogenic Hg emissions in modern Hg cycle are evident. Most research however, has focused on terrestrial systems, with the biogeochemistry of Hg in fresh water systems receiving much attention. Paradoxically, the oceans have been largely ignored, yet the primary exposure of humans to methylmercury (MMHg) is through the consumption of marine fish and fish products. MethylHg compounds are considerably more toxic than elemental Hg and its inorganic salts, and prenatal life is more susceptible to MMHg-induced brain damage than adults [8]. The risk to public health is evident in the fish consumption advisories that have been issued in Canada, Scadanavia, by more than 30 states, the US FDA, the World Health Organization (WHO) and numerous other governments. Moreover, the coupling between atmospherically-borne Hg contamination and high MMHg concentrations in fish has been recognized. For example, a principal theme for the recently formed SCOPE Committee on Hg in the environment is a reevaluation of the influence of atmospheric Hg cycling and sea-air exchange on MMHg levels in oceanic fish [11]. In the U.S.A., the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments require an assessment of health risk to humans and wildlife caused by Hg emissions. The potential adverse impact of atmospheric Hg deposition to coastal waters is contained in a planned Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report to Congress [12].
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Wollast, R., F. Billen and F.T. MacKenzie (1975) Behavior of mercury in natural systems and its global cycle. In: Ecological Toxicology Research, A.D. McIntyre and C.F. Mills, eds., Plenum, New York, 145–166.
National Academy of Sciences (1978) An assessment of mercury in the environment. Report to NAS, Washington, D.C. p. 185.
Slemr, F., W. Sciler and G. Schuster (1981) Latitudinal distribution of mercury over the Atlantic Ocean. J. Geo. Res. 86: 1159–1166.
Lindqvist, O. and H. Rodhe (1985) Atmospheric mercury — a review. Tellus. 37B: 136–159.
Fitzgerald, W.F. (1986) Cycling of mercury between the atmosphere and oceans. In: The Role of Air-Sea Exchange in Geochemical Cycling, P. Buat-Menard, ed. D. Reidel Publishing Co. pp. 363–408.
Fitzgerald, W.F. (1989) Atmospheric cycling of mercury. In SEAREX volume of the Chemical Oceanography series, R.A. Duce, J.P. Riley and R. Chester, eds. Academic Press, London, pp. 151–186.
Nriagu, J.O. (1989) A global assessment of natural sources of atmospheric trace metals. Nature 338: 47–49.
Fitzgerald, W.F. and T.W. Clarkson (1991) Mercury and monomethyl mercury: present and future concerns. Environ. Health Perspectives. 96: 159–166.
Lindqvist, O., Johansson, K., Aastrup, M., Andersson, A., Bringmark, L., Hovsenius, G., Hakanson, L., Iverfeldt, A., Meili, M. and Timm, B. (1991) Mercury in the Swedish Environment-Recent research on causes, consequences and corrective methods. Water, Soil and Air Pollution. 55: 1–261.
Mason, R.P., W.F. Fitzgerald and F.M. Morel (1994) Biogeochemical cycling of elemental mercury: anthropogenic influences. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta. 58: 3191–3198.
Ambio (1994) SCOPE Committee on Hg in the environment. Ambio. 23: 166.
The Great Waters Report USEPA-453/R-93–055, May, 1994.
Fitzgerald, W.F., R.P. Mason, G.M. Vandal (1991) Atmospheric cycling and air-water exchange of mercury over mid-continental lacustrine regions. Water, Soil and Air Pollution. 56: 745–767.
Fitzgerald, W.F., R.P. Mason, G.M. Vandal and F. Dulac (1994) Air-water cycling of mercury in lakes. Chapter I.3 in: Mercury as a Global Pollutant: Towards Integration and Synthesis. C.J. Watras and J.W. Huckabee, editors. Lewis Press, Boca Raton, FL pp. 203–220.
Mason, R.P. and W.F. Fitzgerald (1991) Mercury speciation in open ocean waters. Water, Air and Soil Pollution 56: 745–767.
Mason, R.P. and W.F. Fitzgerald (1993) The distribution and biogeochemical cycling of mercury in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Deep-Sea Res. 40: 1897–1924.
Vandal, G.M., W.F. Fitzgerald, C.F. Boutron and J.P. Candelone (1993) Variations in mercury deposition to the Antarctic over the past 34,000 years. Nature 362: 621–623.
Hudson, J.M., S. Gherini, C. Watras and D. Porcella (1994) Modeling the biogeochemical cycle of mercury in lakes: the mercury cycling model (MCM) and its application to the MTL study lakes. In: Mercury as a Global Pollutant: Towards Integration and Synthesis, C.J. Watras and J. W. Huckabee, eds. Lewis Publishers.
Petersen, G., Å. Iverfeldt and J. Munthe (1995) Atmospheric mercury species over central and northern Europe. Model calculations and comparison with observations from the Nordic air and precipitation network for 1987 and 1988. Atmospheric Environ. 29(1): 47–67.
Nriagu, J.O. and J.M. Pacyna (1988) Quantitative assessment of worldwide contamination of air, water and soils by trace metals. Nature 333: 134–139.
Keeler, G.J. J. Pacyna, T. Bidleman and J. Nriagu (1994) In: Deposition of Air Pollutants to the Great Waters, First Report to Congress (EPA-453/R-93–055, May, 1994) USEPA, RTP, NC 27711.
Keating, M. (1994) Mercury deposition and the activities of the Clean Air Act of 1990. Presented at: USEPA National Forum on Mercury in Fish, New Orleans, Sept. ‘94.
Watson, W.D. (1979) Economic considerations in controlling mercury pollution, in J.O. Nriagu (ed.), The Biogeochemistry of Mercury in the Environment. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 42–77.
Weiner, J.G., R.E. Martini, T.B. Sheffy, G.E. Glass (1990). Factors influencing mercury concentrations in walleyes in northern Wisconsin lakes. Trans, of the Amer. Fisheries Soc. 119: 862–870.
Rolfhus, K.R. and W.F. Fitzgerald (1995) Linkages between atmospheric mercury deposition and the methylmercury content of marine fish. Water, Air and Soil Pollution. 80: 291–297.
EPA Mercury Study Report to Congress, Draft, 1995.
Eisler, R. (1981) Trace Metal Concentrations in Marine Organisms. Pergamon Press, NY pp 687.
Lathrop, R.C., P.W. Rasmussen and D.R. Knauer (1991) Mercury concentrations in walleyes from Wisconsin (USA) lakes. Water, Air and Soil Pollution 56: 295–307.
Watras, C.J., N.S. Bloom, S.A. Claas, K.A. Morrison, C.C. Gilmour and S.R. Craig (1995) Methylmercury production in the anoxic hypolimnion of a dimictic seepage lake. Water, Air and Soil Pollution. 80: 735–745.
Gilmour, C.C. and E.A Henry (1991) Mercury methylation in aquatic systems affected by acid deposition. Environmental Poll. 71:131–169.
Mason, R.P. and W.F. Fitzgerald (1990) Alkylmercury species in the equatorial Pacific. Nature 347: 457–459.
Mason, R.P., W.F. Fitzgerald J. Hurley, A.K. Hanson, Jr. P.L. Donaghay and J. Sieburth (1993) Mercury biogeochemical cycling in a stratified estuary. Limnology and Oceanography 38: 1227–1241.
Gilmour, C.C. (1994) Measurement and control of Hg methylation in sediments and sediment/water methylmercury flux. Presented at the 3rd International Meeting on Mercury as a Global Pollutant, Whistler, British Columbia, July, 1994.
Winfrey, M.R. and J.W.M. Rudd (1990) Envrionmental factors affecting the formation of methylmercury in low pH lakes. Env. Tox. and Chem. 9: 853–869.
Fitzgerald, W.F. (1993) Global cycling of mercury, in: R.J. Allen and J.O. Nriagu (eds.) Heavy Metals in the Environment, 9th International Conference Volume 1. CEP Consultants Ltd., pp. 320–323.
Gill, G.A. and W.F. Fitzgerald (1985) Mercury sampling of open ocean waters at the picomolar level. Deep-Sea Res. 32: 287–297.
Water, Air and Soil Pollution (1991) O. Lindqvist (ed.) Mercury as an environmental pollutant, special issue. 56, Kluwer, Amsterdam.
Water, Air and Soil Pollution (1995) Special issue, Mercury as a Global Pollutant (Proceedings from Whistler Conference), Volume 80, 1329 pp., D.B. Porcella, J.W. Huckabee and B. Wheatley (eds.), Kluwer, Amsterdam.
Watras, C.J. and J.W. Huckabee (eds.) (1995) Mercury as a Global Pollutant: Towards Integration and Synthesis. Lewis Press, Boca Raton, FL
Braman, R.S. and D.L. Johnson (1974). Selective adsorption tubes and emission technique for the determination of ambient forms of mercury in air. ES&T 8: 996–1003.
Fitzgerald, W.F. and G.A. Gill (1979) Sub nanogram determination of mercury by two-stage Au amalgamation and gas phase detection applied to atmospheric to analysis. Anal. Chem. 51: 1714–1720.
Fitzgerald, W.F., G.A. Gill and A.D. Hewitt (1981) IAMAP 3rd Scientific Assembly, Hamburg, 17–28 August.
Kim, J.P. and W.F. Fitzgerald (1986) An equatorial Pacific source of atmospheric mercury. Science 231: 1131–1133.
Bloom, N.S. and W.F. Fitzgerald (1988) Determination of volatile mercury at the picogram level by low-temperature gas chromatography with cold-vapour atomic fluorescence. Anal. Chim. Acta. 208: 151–161.
Fitzgerald, W.F. (1995) Is mercury increasing in the atmosphere? The need for an atmospheric mercury network (AMNET). Water, Air and Soil Pollution. 80: 245–254.
Lamborg, C.H., W.F. Fitzgerald, G.M. Vandal and K.R. Rolfhus (1995) Atmospheric mercury in northern Wisconsin: sources and species. Water, Air and Soil Poll. 80: 189–198.
Mason, R.P., W.F. Fitzgerald and G.M. Vandal (1992) The sources of mercury in equatorial Pacific rain. J. Atmos. Chem. 14: 489–50.
Hultberg, H. and Ă…. Iverfeldt (1992) Accumulation and output of methylmercury from forested catchments in southwester Sweden. Presented at 2nd International Conference on Mercury as an Global Pollutant held in Monterey, CA during June, 1992.
Iverfeldt, Å (1991a) Occurence and turnover of atmospheric mercury over the Nordic Countries. Water Air Soil Pollution 56: 251–266.
Iverfeldt, Å (1991b) Mercury in forest canopy throughfall and its relation to atmospheric deposition. Water Air Soil Pollut ion 56: 553–564.
Slemr, F. and E. Langer (1992). Increase in global atmospheric concentrations of Hg inferred from measurements over the Atlantic Ocean. Nature 355: 434–437.
Prestbo, E.M, N.S. Bloom and B. Hall (1995) Mercury speciation in coal combustion flue gas: methodology, intercomparison, artifacts and atmospheric implications. Water, Air and Soil Pollution. 80: 145–158.
Nater, E.A. and D.F. Grigal (1992). Regional trends in mercury distribution across the Great Lake states, north central USA. Nature. 358: 139–141.
Hoyer, M., J. Burke and G. Keeler (1995) Atmospheric sources, transport and deposition of mercury in Michigan: two years of event precipitation. Water, Air and Soil Pollution. 80: 199–208.
Schroeder W.H and J. Markes (1994) Measurements of atmospheric mercury concentrations in the Canadian environment near Lake Ontario. J. Great Lakes Res. 20, 1: 240–259.
Iverfeldt, Å, J. Munthe, J. Pacyna and C. Brosset (1995) Long-term changes in concentrations and deposition of atmospheric mercury over Scandinavia. Water, Air and Soil Pollution. 80: 227–233.
Iverfeldt, Å and O. Lindqvist (1986) Atmospheric oxidation of elemental mercury by ozone in the aqueous phase. Atmos. Environ. 20: 1567–1573.
Munthe, J., Z.F. Xiao and O. Lindqvist (1991) The aqueous reduction of divalent mercury by sulfite. Water, Air and Soil Pollution. 56: 621–630.
Munthe, J. (1992) The aqueous oxidation of elemental mercury by ozone. Atmos. Environ. 26A, 8: 1461–1468.
Munthe, J. and W.J. McElroy (1992) Some aqueous reactions of potential importance in the atmospheric chemistry of mercury. Atmos. Environ. 26A, 4: 533–557.
Hall, B. (1995) The gas phase oxidation of mercury by ozone. Water, Air and Soil Pollution. 80: 301–315.
Seigneur, C. J. Wrobel and E. Constantinou (1994) A chemical kinetic mechanism for atmospheric inorganic mercury. Environ. Sci. Technol. 28, 1589–1597.
Johansson, K., M. Aastrup, A. Andersson, L. Bringmark, Å. Iverfeldt. (1991) Mercury in Swedish forest soils and waters.-assessment of critical load. Water Air Soil Pollution 56: 267–282.
Aastrup, M., J. Johnson, E. Bringmark, L. Bringmark and Å. Iverfeldt (1991) Occurrence and transport of mercury within a small catchment area. Water, Air and Soil Pollution 56: 155–168.
Swain, E.B., D.R. Engstrom, M.E. Brigham, T.A. Henning and P.L. Brezonik (1992). Increasing rates of atmospheric mercury deposition in midcontinental North America. Science 257: 784–787.
A. Mierle, G. and R. Ingram. (1991) The role of humic substances in the mobilization of mercury of mercury from watersheds. Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 56: 349–357.
Mason, R.P., K.R. Rolfhus and W.F. Fitzgerald (1995) Methylated and elemental mercury in the surface and deep ocean waters of the North Atlantic. Water, Air and Soil Pollution. 80: 665–677.
Iverfeldt, Å (1988) Mercury in the Norwegian fjord Framvaren. Marine Chemistry. 23: 441–456.
Vandal, G.M., R.P. Mason and W.F. Fitzgerald (1991) Cycling of volatile mercury in temperate lakes. Water, Air and Soil Pollution 56: 791–803.
Vandal, G.M., W.F. Fitzgerald, K.R. Rolfhus and C.H. Lamborg (1995) Modeling the elemental mercury cycle in Pallette Lake, WI. Water, Air, Soil Pollution. 80: 529–538.
Xiao, Z.F., J. Munthe, W.H. Schroeder and O. Lindqvist (1991) Vertical fluxes of volatile mercury over the forest soil and lake surfaces in Sweden. Tellus. 41B: 267–279.
Gill, G.A. and K.W. Bruland (1990) Mercury speciation in surface freshwater systems in California and other areas, Environ. Sci. Technol. 24: 1392–1400.
Gill, G. (1980) On the geochemistry of mercury in Long Island Sound: An analytical and field study. PhD dissertation. The University of Connecticut.
Fitzgerald, W.F. and G.M. Vandal (1994) The sources and cycling of mercury and methylmercury in Long Island Sound — The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection.
Gill, G.A. and K.W. Bruland (1987) Mercury in the northeast Pacific. EOS Transactions, American Geophysical Union , 68, 1763.
Weiss, H.V., M. Koide and E.D. Goldberg (1971) Mercury in the Greenland ice sheet: evidence of recent input by man. Science 174: 692–694.
Appleqvist, H., K.O. Jensen, T. Sevel and C. Hammer (1978) Mercury in the Greenland ice sheet. Nature 273: 657–659.
Carr, R.A. and P.E. Wilkniss (1973) Mercury in the Greenland ice sheet: further data. Science 181: 843–844.
Herron, M.M., Langway, C., Weiss, H., Husley, H., Kerr, P. and Cragin, J. 1977. Vanadium and other elements in Greenland ice cores. In: Int. Symp. Isotopes and Impurities in Snow and Ice. Int. Ass. Hydo. Sci. Surrey, UK, 98–102.
Murozumi, M., S. Nakamura and Y. Yoshida (1978) Chemical constituents in the surface snow in Mizuho Plateau. Mem. Nat. Inst. Polar Res. 7: 255–263.
Pedersen, T.F., B. Nielsen and M. Pickering (1991) Timing of late Quaternary productivity pulses in the Panama Basin and implications for atmospheric CO2. Paleoceanography 6, 6: 657–677.
Hudson, R.J.M., S.A. Gherini, W.F. Fitzgerald and D.B. Porcella (1995) Anthropogenic influences on the global mercury cycle: a model-based analysis. Water, Air and Soil Pollution. 80: 265–272.
Kim, J.P. (1987). Volatilization and efflux of mercury from biologically productive ocean regions. PhD. Dissertation, University of Connecticut.
Berger, W.H. (1989) Appendix: Global Maps of Ocean Productivity. In Productivity of the Oceans: Present and Past (ed. W.H. Berger, V.S. Smetacek and G. Wefer), pp 429–455. Wiley and Sons, NY.
Knauer, G.A. and Martin J.H. (1981) Primary productivity and carbon-nitrogen fluxes in the upper 1500 m of the northeast Pacific. Limnol. Oceanogr. 26, 181–186.
Wyrtki, K. and Kilonsky, B. (1984) Mean water and current structure during the Hawaii-Tahiti shuttle experiment. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 14, 242–254.
Hastenrath, S. (1985) Ch. 4: Ocean Circulation and Ch. 6: Regional Circulation Systems. In Climate and Circulation of the Tropics, D. Reidel Publ. Co., Dordrecht.
Mason, R.P., J. O’Donnell and W.F. Fitzgerald (1994) Elemental mercury cycling within the mixed layer of the Equatorial Pacific Ocean. Chapter 1.7 in: Mercury as a Global Pollutant: Towards Integration and Synthesis. C.J. Watras and J.W. Huckabee, editors. Lewis Press, Boca Raton, FL pp. 83–97.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fitzgerald, W.F., Mason, R.P. (1996). The Global Mercury Cycle: Oceanic and Anthropogenic Aspects. In: Baeyens, W., Ebinghaus, R., Vasiliev, O. (eds) Global and Regional Mercury Cycles: Sources, Fluxes and Mass Balances. NATO ASI Series, vol 21. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1780-4_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1780-4_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7295-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-1780-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive