Dynamics of mercury fluxes and their controlling factors in large Hg-polluted floodplain areas

Rinklebe, Jörg; During, Anja; Overesch, Mark; Du Laing, Gijs; Wennrich, Rainer; Stärk, Hans-Joachim; Mothes, Sibylle

Dynamics of mercury fluxes and their controlling factors in large Hg-polluted floodplain areas

2010

Environmental pollution by mercury (Hg) is a considerable environmental problem world-wide. Due to the occurrence of Hg volatilization from their soils, floodplains can function as an important source of volatile Hg. Soil temperature and soil water content related to flood dynamics are considered as important factors affecting seasonal dynamics of total gaseous mercury (TGM) fluxes. We quantified seasonal variations of TGM fluxes and conducted a laboratory microcosm experiment to assess the effect of temperature and moisture on TGM fluxes in heavily polluted floodplain soils. Observed TGM emissions ranged from 10 to 850 ng m−2 h−1 and extremely exceeded the emissions of non-polluted sites. TGM emissions increased exponentially with raised air and soil temperatures in both field (R2: 0.49–0.70) and laboratory (R2: 0.99) experiments. Wet soil material showed higher TGM fluxes, whereas the role of soil water content was affected by sampling time during the microcosm experiments. Warmer environmental conditions result in higher Hg volatilization rates from floodplain soils.

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