Equilibrium concentrations of methylmercury in ottawa river sediments

ABSTRACT MOST of the mercury (up to 97%) found in aquatic systems is associated with bed sediments1. Fish, invertebrates and plants contain only 0.02% of the total, though they contain a

high proportion of organic mercury. Field surveys show that the proportion of organic mercury in the sediments range from 0.1 to 2.1%2–6. Jacobs and Keeney placed river sediments mixed with

inorganic mercury in the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers7. After 12 weeks exposure to the natural environment the concentration of methylmercury in the sediments was only 3%. This concentration of

methylmercury was attained within 4 weeks after sediments were placed in the bottom of the rivers. This indicated that the processes of methylation and demethylation of mercury were in

equilibrium in these environmental conditions within 4 weeks. But no experiments were conducted to show the degradation of methylmercury in sediments. After the methylation study by Jensen

and Jernelöv8, many investigations into methylmercury production by microorganisms in bed sediments have been carried out. Little attention, however, has been paid to the ratio of

methyl-mercury to the total mercury existing in the sediments. Spangler _et al._ observed degradation of methylmercury in mixed cultures from sediments9. The degradation reached 50% within 5

d, they also found methylmercury degradation in sediments. But detailed information about the sediments was not available and results fluctuated wildly. We do not know the total amount of

methylmercury existing in all components of the systems, including fish, invertebrates and plants as well as various types of bed sediments. Here we use methylmercury equilibrium

concentration levels in the Ottawa River sediments to estimate the amount of methylmercury in various types of bed sediment where detailed information of total mercury concentrations (total

mercury estimation 31 kg) and types of sediment is available. Two ways (methylmercury production and degradation) of reaching equilibrium were observed during 50 d in identical environmental

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customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE FOR RECOVERY OF MERCURY-CONTAMINATED FISH POPULATIONS Article Open access 15 December 2021 A COMPREHENSIVE

SULFATE AND DOM FRAMEWORK TO ASSESS METHYLMERCURY FORMATION AND RISK IN SUBTROPICAL WETLANDS Article Open access 07 May 2025 DISSOLVED ORGANIC MATTER THIOL CONCENTRATIONS DETERMINE

METHYLMERCURY BIOAVAILABILITY ACROSS THE TERRESTRIAL-MARINE AQUATIC CONTINUUM Article Open access 23 October 2023 REFERENCES * Kudo, A., Townsend, D. R. & Miller, D. R. _Prog. wat.

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(1977). Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar  Download references AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Division of Biological Sciences, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa,

Canada AKIRA KUDO, HIROKATSU AKAGI, D. C. MORTIMER & DONALD R. MILLER Authors * AKIRA KUDO View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

HIROKATSU AKAGI View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * D. C. MORTIMER View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed 

Google Scholar * DONALD R. MILLER View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE

THIS ARTICLE KUDO, A., AKAGI, H., MORTIMER, D. _et al._ Equilibrium concentrations of methylmercury in Ottawa River sediments. _Nature_ 270, 419–420 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/270419a0

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