Coastal waters, mercury concentrations

Lyle, J.M. 1984. Mercury concentrations in four carcharhinid and three hammerhead sharks from coastal waters of the Northern Territory. Austral. Jour. Mar. Freshwater Res. 35 441 -451. 

Bottom sediments in the coastal zone of the sea may be polluted with copper, zinc, nickel and cadmium. The highest levels of toxic heavy metals are found in the mouths of rivers. The bottom sediments in the Black Sea have a high mercury level—from 0.28 to 0.40 pg/1. In the coastal waters of the Krasnodar Territory the mercury level is 0.15-1.55 pg/1, while its maximum concentrations are registered in the Danube and Dnieper mouth areas. The Danube alone brings annually up to 50-60 tons of mercury, while the Dnieper brings up to 5 tons. The distribution of heavy metals in bottom sediments in the Russian shelf of the Black Sea is not uniform. Their greatest quantities are accumulated in sediments in the deepest part of the shelf where their concentration is 3-5 times higher than in sediments in the shallower part. Toxic metals contained in sea water in the dissolved and suspended forms are ac-... 

A cold-trap pre-concentration procedure, which is incorporated into a standard jlameless atomic absorption analysis of mercury in environmental samples, has been used for both shipboard and laboratory analyses of mercury in seawater, The coefficient of variation for seawater containing 25 ng Hg/l, is 15%, and a detection limit of approximately 0,2 ng Hg is attainable. In surface seawaters of coastal and open regions of the northwest Atlantic Ocean mercury concentrations appear to decrease with increasing distance from terrestrial sources. In the open ocean samples they are less than 10 ng/l. and rather uniformly distributed. The amounts of mercury in inshore samples can approach 50 ng/l, A significant mercury fraction characterized by a stable association with organic material may be present in coastal waters. 

Mercury Concentrations in Coastal Waters o F the Northeastern United States... 

The baseline concentration of mercury in unpolluted marine waters has been estimated to be less than 2 ng/L (2 ppt) (Fowler 1990). In contrast, the New York Bight, an inshore coastal area near the industrialized areas of New York Harbor and northern New Jersey, contained dissolved mercury concentrations in the range of 10-90 ng/L (ppt) (Fowler 1990). 

As part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Status and Trends Program conducted from 1984 to 1987, mercury concentrations were analyzed in four marine bivalve species in U.S. coastal waters (NOAA 1987). Mercury concentrations in bivalve tissues ranged from 0.01 to 0.48 g/g (ppm) dry weight in oysters (Crassostrea virginica), 0.28 to 0.41 g/g (ppm) in the Hawaiian oyster (Ostrea sandwichensis), 0.05 to 0.47 g/g (ppm) in the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis), and 0.04 to... 

Hueter RE, Fong WG, Henderson G, et al. 1995. Methylmercury concentration in shark muscle by species, size and distribution of sharks in Florida coastal waters. In Porcella DB, Wheatley B, eds. Mercury as a global pollutant. Proceedings of the Third International Conference Whistler, British Columbia, July 10-14, 1994. Boston, MA Kluwer Academic Publishers, 893-899. 

The food web that exists primarily in the water column may be impacted by methyla-tion of reactive mercury species. Concentrations of methylmercury in predatory piscivorous marine fishes that inhabit coastal waters (such as sharks) may exceed 1 mg kg Most of this methylmercury is thought to be transferred through and accumulated in the food web, as methylmer-cuty is very bioavailable. Almost 100% of the mercury found in fish muscle tissue is... 

Satpathy KK, Usha N, Sarguru S, Mohanty AK, Prasad MVR, Sarkar SK. Seasonal variations in mercury concentrations in the coastal waters of Kalpakkam, southeast coast of India Current Science 2008, 95, 374-381. 

This book has identified the most useful indicators of environmental changes in mercury contamination in 4 compartments of the environment 1) airsheds and watersheds, 2) water and sediment, 3) aquatic organisms (with emphasis on freshwater ecosystems), and 4) wildlife that live in freshwater, terrestrial, and/or coastal ecosystems. The indicators identified in this book are wide-ranging and involve measurements made at several different scales of time and space. The authors believe that these indicators will provide the best information to policymakers, as well as other stakeholders, as to whether environmental concentrations are changing (A indicators) and what the reasons for those changes might be (B indicators). 

Kannan K. and Ealandysz J. (1998) Speciation and concentrations of mercury in certain coastal marine sediments. Water Air Soil Pollut. 103, 129—136. 

A review of concentrations of mercury, cadmium, lead, PCBs, DDT and metabolites, and HCH in water, sediments, and biota in coastal as well as open ocean areas of the world has been published [42]. 

Mercury is a dynamic element, and its chemical behavior in waters, sediments, and soils is complex and is influenced by several factors. These factors include redox, pH, salinity, alkalinity, hardness, and organic matter (i.e., composition, reactivity, concentration, etc.). As with other metals, sediments and soils serve as the main reservoirs for Hg consequently, the levels, distribution, and speciation of Hg in these media must be established to understand its complex behavior. In Table 2, we present selected data on Hg levels that exist in coastal, marine, lagoonal, and estuarine sediments from distinct regions of Mexico. These data show that sediments... 

Atmospheric deposition of trace metals from urban environments on the perimeter of large water bodies is a potential source to these systems. There is little data, however, to support or refute this notion. Here we discuss a study of Baltimore s urban air and its potential impact on the northern Chesapeake Bay and compare our results to those of other studies. Elevated concentrations of metals, especially lead, zinc and mercury were measured at an urban sampling site compared to a rural location. The difference was most marked for lead with the annual depositional flux almost three times higher in the city. Normalized fluxes at a rural site were mostly similar to those measured previously around the Chesapeake Bay and were also similar to those measured recently at other rural sites in Maryland and around the Great Lakes. The results of our study suggest that local atmospheric inputs from urban sources should be included in any evaluation of atmospheric deposition to lacrustrine, coastal or estuarine systems. 

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