Abstract
Sediment cores collected from several lakes in northern Canada have been analyzed for mercury and several other chemical contaminants. Sites ranged from the Experimental Lakes Area of northwestern Ontario, north to Comwallis Island, and west to the southern Yukon. Cores were sliced at sites of collection and individual slices were freeze dried and analyzed for Pb-210 and Cs–137 to estimate average time intervals of deposition. The earliest date estimated by Pb-210 was about 1850, and mercury concentrations in some lakes were clearly increasing before then, assuming no vertical movements of mercury within the sediments. Extrapolation of dates downward to deeper slices, assuming a constant sedimentation rate, indicated that in some lakes mercury inputs increased slowly even in the 1500’s, more rapidly after 1750, and more rapidly yet over the current century. These increases are interpreted as increased fluxes of mercury to the lakes as a result of long-range transport of atmospheric mercury, since there are no local industrial sources of mercury. Slices taken near the bottom of a core are taken to estimate the geological component while elevations in excess of that in surface slices are taken to represent contamination from fallout. This partitioning suggests that sediments in the eastern Northwest Territories are dominated by pollution, while those from the western Northwest Territories are influenced more by their geological settings. Two cores from Hudson Bay suggest that mercury is increasing there too, but has not yet exceeded geological sources. Mercury shows little or no tendency to decline in the most recent slices; indicating that inputs of mercury remain at or near their historical maxima. Given relatively high and continuing inputs of mercury to northern lakes it seems likely that some portion of that mercury may find its way into the food chain, hence the long–term prospect is for increasing levels of mercury in northern fish.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Evans, R.D.: 1986, Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 15, 505–512
Flynn, W.W.: 1968, Anal. Chim. Acta 43, 221–227.
Hart-Hansen, J.P., Meldgaard, J. and Nordqvist, J.: 1991, The Greenland Mummie McGill Queens University Press, 192 pages.
Health and Welfare Canada: 1978, Methylmercury in Canada 1. Exposure of Indian and Inuit residents to methylmercury in the Canadian environment, Medical Services Branch, 200 pages.
Health and Welfare Canada: 1984, Methylmercury in Canada II. Exposure of Indian and Inuit residents to methylmercury in the Canadian environment, Medical Services Branch, 164 pages.
Hendzel, M.R. and Jamieson, D.M.: 1976, Anal. Chem. 48, 926–928.
Hermanson, M.H.: 1993, Wat. Sci. Technol. 28, 33–41.
Landers, D.H., Ford, J., Gubala, C., Monetti, M. Lasorsa, B.K. and Allen–Gil, S.: This volume.
Johnson, M. G.: 1987, Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 44, 3–13.
Lockhart, W.L.: 1992, In Contaminants in the Marine Environment ofNunavik, Proceedings of the Conference, Montreal, September 12–14, 1990, Makivik Society and Laval University Centre for Northern Studies, 27–31.
Lockhart, W.L., Wilkinson, P., Billeck, B.N., Brunskill, G.J., Hunt, R.V. and Wagemann, R.: 1993, Wat. Sci. Technol. 28, 43–52.
Mason, R.P., Fitzgerald, W.F. and Morel, F.M.M.: 1994, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 58, 3191–3198.
Mathieu, G.G.: 1977, Ann. Tech. Rep. C00–2185–0, Lamont–Doherty Geol. Observ., Palisades, NY.
Nriagu, J. O. and Pacyna, J. M.: 1988, Nature 333, 134–139.
Ouellet, M. and Jones, H.G.: 1983, Can. J. Earth Sci. 20, 23–36.
Rada, R.G., Wiener, J.G., Winfrey, M.R. and Powell, D.E.: Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 18, 175–181.
Robbins, J. A. and Edgington, D.N.: 1976, Radiological and Environmental Research Division Annual Report, Argonne National Laboratory, Report ANL–76–88, Part III, 65–71.
Slemr, F. and Langer, E.: 1992, Nature 355, 434–437.
Swain, E.B., Engstrom, D.R., Brigham, M.E., Henning, T.A. and Brezonik, P.L.: 1992, Science 257, 784–787.
Wagemann, R., Lockhart, W.L., Welch, H. and Innés, S.: 1994. This volume.
Welch, H. E.: 1985, Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 42,494–505.
Welch, H.E., Muir, D.C.G., Billeck, B.N. Lockhart, W.L., Brunskill, G.J., Kling, H.J.,Olson, M.P. andLemoine, RM.: 1991, Environ. Sci. Technol. 25, 280–286.
Wheatley, B. and Wheatley, M.A.: 1988 Arctic Med. Res. 47: 163–167.
Wheatley, M.A. and Wheatley, B.: 1981, Études Inuit Studies 5, 27–43
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lockhart, W.L., Wilkinson, P., Billeck, B.N., Hunt, R.V., Wagemann, R., Brunskill, G.J. (1995). Current and Historical Inputs of Mercury to High-Latitude Lakes in Canada and to Hudson Bay. In: Porcella, D.B., Huckabee, J.W., Wheatley, B. (eds) Mercury as a Global Pollutant. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0153-0_66
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0153-0_66
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-4069-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-0153-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive