Mercury geochemistry

Lyons, W.B., Fitzgibbon, T.O., Welch, K.A., Carey, A.E. 2006. Mercury geochemistry of the Scioto River, Ohio Impact of agriculture and urbanization. Applied Geochemistry, 21, 1880-1888... 

Roulet M, Lucotte M, Saint-Aubin A, Tran S, Rheault I, Farella N, de Jesus da Silva E, Dezencourt J, Sousa Passes CJ, Santos Soares G, Guimaraes JR, Mergler D, Amorim M. 1998. The geochemistry of mercury in central Amazonian soils developed on the Alter-do-Chao formation of the lower Tapajos River valley, Para state, Brazil. Sci Total Environ 223 1-24. 

White, D.E. (1967) Mercury and base-metal deposits with associated thermal and mineral waters In Barnes, H.L. (ed.). Geochemistry of Hydrothermal Ore Deposits. New York Holt, Rhinehart and Winston, pp. 575-631. 

Until now, Mercury has only been studied more closely by one spacecraft (Mariner 10, 1974), since its nearness to the sun means that spacecraft approaching it are subject to particularly extreme conditions. NASA s MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space, Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) was launched in 2004 and is planned to reach Mercury in March 2011, and then to orbit the planet. The main tasks of the MESSENGER mission are to map the planet, to make measurements of its magnetic field and to collect data relevant to its geological and tectonic history (Solomon, 2007). 

Chang, L.W. 1979. Pathological effects of mercury poisoning. Pages 519-580 in J.O. Nriagu (ed.). The Bio geochemistry of Mercury in the Environment. Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical Press, NY. 

Roulet, M. and M. Lucotte. 1995. Geochemistry of mercury in pristine and flooded ferralitic soils of a tropical rain forest in French Guiana, South America. Water Air Soil Pollut. 80 1079-1088. 

Smith CN, Kesler SE, Blum JD, Rytuba JR (2008) Isotope geochemistry of mercury in source rocks, mineral deposits and spring deposits of the CaUfomia Coast Ranges, USA. Earth Planet Sci Lett 269 398-406... 

Diawara, D.M., Litt, J.S., Unis, D. et al. (2006) Arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury in surface soils, Pueblo, Colorado implications for population health risk. Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 28(4), 297-315. 

Flameless AAS methods have so far made little impact in applied geochemistry, except for methods for the element mercury, for which cold-vapour AAS is uniquely effective [2]. A plethora of methods are now in use ranging from simple attachments to standard instruments, to fully portable specific mercury meters of high sensitivity incorporating ingenious methods of background correction [3]. 

INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Global Mercury Cycle FUNDAMENTAL GEOCHEMISTRY. 2.1 Solid Earth Abundance and Distribution. 2.2 Isotopic Distributions. 2.3 Minable Deposits. 2.4 Occurrence of Mercury in Fossil Fuels SOURCES OF MERCURY TO THE ENVIRONMENT. 3.1 Volcanic Mercury Emissions... 

In this section, we consider aspects of the fundamental geochemistry and biogeochemistry of mercury used later in the chapter. These topics include (i) solid Earth abundance and distribution, (ii) isotopic composition and recent advances in mercury cosmochemistry, (iii) the formation and distribution of minable mercury deposits, and (iv) mercury in fossil fuels. 

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