Emerging investigator series: mercury mobility and methylmercury formation in a contaminated agricultural flood plain: influence of flooding and manure addition

Gygax, Sebastian; Gfeller, Lorenz; Wilcke, Wolfgang; Mestrot, Adrien (2019). Emerging investigator series: mercury mobility and methylmercury formation in a contaminated agricultural flood plain: influence of flooding and manure addition. Environmental science: processes & impacts, 21(12), pp. 2008-2019. Royal Society of Chemistry 10.1039/C9EM00257J

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The fate and the methylation of mercury (Hg) in the terrestrial environment are still poorly understood and although the main drivers of release and methylation of mercury in soils are known (low redox potential and microbial carbon availability) their interactions are not well understood. This is of concern since many agriculturally used floodplains, where the recurring flooding and agricultural practices (e.g. manure amendments) may have an impact on the fate and the biomethylation of Hg, are at the same time Hg-contaminated. In this study, we modified and validated existing methods to extract and analyze methylmercury (MeHg) by HPLC-ICP-MS in soils and we assessed the Hg and MeHg concentrations in three fields situated in a Hg polluted agricultural floodplain. Further, we incubated the top soil from the three studied fields for 11 days under flooded conditions in presence or absence of 2 mass% of cow manure, a common agricultural amendment in the area. Total Hg and MeHg concentrations ranged from <limit of detection (LOD, 0.012 mg kg-1) to 28.2 mg kg-1 and from 1.2 to 7.8 μg kg-1 respectively. Hg was released to the soil solution after 12 hours with a maximum between day 2 and day 7. MeHg levels in the soil solution were <LOD although it was found in the soil before and after the incubation. The addition of cow manure to saturated soils led to an increase in the MeHg concentrations of the soil solid phase by up to fivefold to a maximum of 26.4 ± 1.1 μg kg-1 (n = 3). Our study demonstrates that the combination of low redox potential because of flooding with common agricultural practices such as the amendment of manures enhances the formation of toxic MeHg.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Physical Geography > Unit Soil Science
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Physical Geography

UniBE Contributor:

Gygax, Sebastian, Gfeller, Lorenz Kaspar, Mestrot, Adrien

Subjects:

900 History > 910 Geography & travel

ISSN:

2050-7887

Publisher:

Royal Society of Chemistry

Funders:

[4] Swiss National Science Foundation ; [UNSPECIFIED] Bundesamt für Umwelt ; [UNSPECIFIED] Seventh Framework Programme

Language:

English

Submitter:

Adrien Mestrot

Date Deposited:

01 Nov 2019 09:20

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:31

Publisher DOI:

10.1039/C9EM00257J

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.134393

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/134393

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