Abstract
The water-mobilizability of mercury from contaminated floodplain soils of the river Elbe in Northern Germany was evaluated by batch extraction experiments. It was shown that only a small amount of the total mercury present (about 1% per extraction) can be mobilized by water. This mercury is transported entirely in the form of a complex bound to humic acids (HA); particulates and fulvic acids (FA) did not seem to contribute to the process. It could not be removed from the HA even at pH 1, indicating an extremely strong complexation e.g. by sulfur-containing ligands. Furthermore, the influence of pH on the mobilization was investigated. It was found that in the range of natural pH-values, there was no observable effect of pH on the mobilization of either mercury or dissolved organic carbon (DOC). This surprising finding is explained by an unexpectedly high buffering capacity of the humics, both in the acidic and in the alkaline region. Only at extreme pH-values there was deviation from this behaviour. In contrast to other heavy metals, the amount of mobilized mercury decreases at pH < 3; and at pH > 12, an increased mobilization of mercury was observed because the humics are mobilized completely, accompanied by the total amount of mercury bound to them.
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Wallschläger, D., Desai, M.V.M. & Wilken, RD. The role of humic substances in the aqueous mobilization of mercury from contaminated floodplain soils. Water Air Soil Pollut 90, 507–520 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00282665
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00282665