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Mobility and Methylation of Mercury in Forest Soils Development of an In-Situ Stable Isotope Tracer Technique and Initial Results

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Water, Air and Soil Pollution: Focus

Abstract

A method for investigating in-situmethylation and mobility of mercury has beendeveloped and applied to forest soil. The methodis based on additions of stable 199Hgisotopes to forest soil plots followed bysampling and analysis of isotope ratios of totalmercury and MeHg using ICP-MS. Initial resultsindicate that a fraction (30%) of the mercuryadded to the forest soils is immobilised over atime scale of 16 months. A small but significantfraction of the mercury is methylated during thesame time scale. Higher methylation rates werefound in wetland soil than in dry forest podzolsoil.

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Author notes

  1. Benny Lyvén

    Present address: SP Swedish National Testing and Research Institute, P.O. Box 857, S-501 15, Borås, Sweden

  2. Helena Parkman

    Present address: National Chemicals Inspectorate, P.O. Box 1384, S-171 27, Solna, Sweden

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, P.O. Box 47086, S-402 58, Göteborg, Sweden

    John Munthe

  2. Department of Analytical and Marine Chemistry, Chalmers University of Technology, S-412 96, Göteborg, Sweden

    Benny Lyvén & Conny Haraldsson

  3. IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, P.O. Box 47086, S-402 58, Göteborg, Sweden

    Helena Parkman, Ying-Hua Lee & Åke Iverfeldt

  4. Finnish Environment Institute (FEI), P.O.Box 140, 00251 Helsinki. Kesakatu 6, 00260, Helsinki

    Matti Verta & Petri Porvari

Authors
  1. John Munthe
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  2. Benny Lyvén
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Munthe, J., Lyvén, B., Parkman, H. et al. Mobility and Methylation of Mercury in Forest Soils Development of an In-Situ Stable Isotope Tracer Technique and Initial Results. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution: Focus 1, 385–393 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017574103867

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