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Mercury in fluvial bed sediments subsequent to contamination

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

Once inputs of mercury-bearing effluents to a fluvial system are stopped, levels of contamination will decline slowly to background values. Crystalline mercury phases will dissolve in response to lowered aqueous mercury concentrations, and aqueous Hg(OH)2 will desorb from ferric hydroxide grain coatings as the coatings age to more ordered phases. In the Ottawa River, mercury concentrations in bed sediments are declining by about 50 percent annually.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Ottawa, K1N 6N5, Ottawa, Canada

    Dennis G. Waslenchuk

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  1. Dennis G. Waslenchuk
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Editor's note: Waslenchuk is now with the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Geophysical Sciences, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, U.S.A.

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Waslenchuk, D.G. Mercury in fluvial bed sediments subsequent to contamination. Geo 1, 131–136 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02428939

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02428939

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