Characterization and cycling of atmospheric mercury along the central US Gulf Coast

M.A. Engle; M.T. Tate; D. P. Krabbenhoft; A. Kolker; M.L. Olson; E.S. Edgerton; J.F. DeWild; A.K. McPherson

doi:10.1016/j.apgeochem.2007.12.024

Home/Archive/USGS

USGS · 70031815

Characterization and cycling of atmospheric mercury along the central US Gulf Coast

M.A. Engle·M.T. Tate·D. P. Krabbenhoft·A. Kolker·M.L. Olson·E.S. Edgerton·J.F. DeWild·A.K. McPherson

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Concentrations of atmospheric Hg species, elemental Hg (Hg ∘ ), reactive gaseous Hg (RGM), and fine particulate Hg (Hg-PM 2.5 ) were measured at a coastal site near Weeks Bay, Alabama from April to August, 2005 and January to May, 2006. Mean concentrations of the species were 1.6 ± 0.3 ng m −3 , 4.0 ± 7.5 pg m −3 and 2.7 ± 3.4 pg m −3 , respectively. A strong diel pattern was observed for RGM (midday maximum concentrations were up to 92.7 pg m −3 ), but not for Hg ∘ or Hg-PM 2.5 . Elevated RGM concentrations (>25 pg m −3 ) in April and May of 2005 correlated with elevated average daytime O 3 concentrations (>55 ppbv) and high light intensity (>500 W m −2 ). These conditions generally corresponded with mixed continental-Gulf and exclusively continental air mass trajectories. Generally lower, but still elevated, RGM peaks observed in August, 2005 and January–March, 2006 correlated significantly ( p < 0.05) with peaks in SO 2 concentration and corresponded to periods of high light intensity and lower average daytime O 3 concentrations. During these times air masses were dominated by trajectories that originated over the continent. Elevated RGM concentrations likely resulted from photochemical oxidation of Hg ∘ by atmospheric oxidants. This process may have been enhanced in and by the near-shore environment relative to inland sites. The marine boundary layer itself was not found to be a significant source of RGM. Size segregation determination, using a limited dataset from two different methods, suggested that a significant fraction of particulate Hg was bound to coarse particles (>2.5 μm). A potential source of the large fraction of coarse particulate Hg in the study area is sequestration of RGM within sea salt aerosols. The presence of rapidly depositing RGM and coarse particulate Hg may be important sources of Hg input along the Gulf Coast. However, the impact of these species on deposition rates is yet to be determined.

Explore related subjects

Applied Geochemistry Article

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

M.A. Engle, M.T. Tate, D. P. Krabbenhoft, A. Kolker, M.L. Olson, E.S. Edgerton, J.F. DeWild, A.K. McPherson. 2008. Characterization and cycling of atmospheric mercury along the central US Gulf Coast. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2007.12.024

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

USGS2026

Evaluating drivers of environmental change in a lake sediment core: Insights from spectroscopic metrics of water-extractable organic matter and stable carbon isotopes

Freshwater lakes play a critical role in the global carbon cycle by storing and transforming organic matter (OM) from both terrestrial and aquatic sources. Small lakes in northern temperate regions, despite their limited surface area, disproportionately influence regional carbon budgets. Buried sediments integrate OM inputs over time and archive ecosystem responses to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. However, the direction and magnitude of recent environmental changes on sediment carbon (C) dynamics remain poorly understood. A 23-cm core was collected from a small temperate lake in northeastern USA to evaluate sediment OM content and composition over timescales relevant to historical land-use change, damming, and recovery from acid deposition. Patterns in OM burial and source contributions were revealed via elemental and isotopic analyses of bulk OM and ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry of water-extractable organic matter (WEOM). The optical metrics expanded observations of likely OM sources beyond the information gained from bulk carbon metrics (total carbon, δ 13 C). The aromaticity of WEOM increased downcore, which is consistent with a shift from increased terrestrial inputs during early logging and damming activity (pre ∼1920) to more microbial-derived OM in recent surficial sediments. Future applications of WEOM optical properties as complements to traditional geochemical metrics can enhance interpretations of lake ecosystem responses recorded in lake sediments to environmental perturbations in temperate lakes.

New York↗

USGS2026

Erosion and transport of sediments in watersheds of southwest Puerto Rico determined from strontium isotopes and mixing models

Sediment outflow from streams to coastal regions can adversely affect water quality and the health of ecosystems including Puerto Rico's southwestern carbonate platform with shallow marine communities. Knowledge of sediment provenance and erosional areas would aid effective restoration to reduce excessive sedimentation. Strontium (Sr) isotopic ratios ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) can be used to differentiate between sediment eroded into streams from different lithologies, or rock types, and used in mixing models to estimate proportions of source materials in downstream mixtures. The goal of this study was to use Sr isotopes to differentiate between river sediments in drainages with distinct geologies and present a case study where Sr isotope mixing models are used to identify sediment sourcing to Río Loco and Bahía de Guánica, a priority watershed of the U.S. Coral Reefs Task Force. For the Río Loco watershed, model results indicate that serpentinites in the uplands contributed approximately 71 % of sediment to Bahía de Guánica. About 21 % of sediment was from trachy-andesitic basalts in the foothills, and the remaining 8 % originated from sources on the coastal plain. Neither the uppermost headwater region of Río Loco, the Canal Principal De Riego Valle De Lajas, nor the tributary Quebrada Susúa appeared to be significant sources of sediment to Río Loco's mainstem or Bahía de Guánica at the time of the study. Our results demonstrate that sediment from the serpentinite-bearing areas of Río Loco watershed was effectively transported to the lowlands, which then discharge into Guánica Bay, and highlight the potential use of Sr isotopes as tracers of sediment provenance. This will, in turn, enable better science-based restoration efforts aimed at reducing terrestrial sediment erosion and impacts to marine ecosystems.

Puerto Rico↗

USGS2025

Chemostratigraphy of the Cretaceous Hue Shale in Arctic Alaska: Exploring paleoceanographic controls on trace element enrichment, organic matter accumulation, and source-rock evolution

We document chemostratigraphy in an outcrop of late Albian to early Campanian (∼103–82 Ma) marine source rocks to better understand paleoenvironmental controls on trace element (TE) enrichment and organic matter accumulation in the distal Colville foreland basin of Arctic Alaska and how those drivers are linked to arc volcanism and successions of Cretaceous oceanographic and climatic biogeochemical events. This unique, 113-m-thick section of Cretaceous Hue Shale deposited during a series of previously undocumented Arctic Cretaceous oceanic anoxic events (Lease et al., 2024) is the only known exposure of thermally immature (0.48–0.52% R o , random vitrinite reflectance) Hue Shale in Arctic Alaska. Strata comprise mainly clay-rich mudstone with elevated total organic carbon (TOC) and hydrogen index values reaching 26.3 wt% (mean = 7.5 wt%) and 689 mg hydrocarbon (HC)/g TOC (mean = 385 mg HC/g TOC), respectively. Maceral composition consists predominantly of fluorescent amorphous organic matter, with abundant brightly fluorescent alginite, including Tasmanites , acritarchs, and Leiosphaeridia . Discrete layers of volcanic ash (preserved as bentonite) are present throughout the section and provide quantitative age control based on U–Pb dates. Chemostratigraphic trends are investigated to advance our understanding of local oceanographic conditions and controls on stratigraphic and temporal heterogeneity of Brookian source rocks. Concurrent sedimentary enrichment in Mo, U, V, Pb, and Cu across the Albian–Cenomanian boundary of the exposed basal gamma-ray zone, may reflect anoxic to euxinic benthic redox conditions favoring organic matter accumulation and preservation. Fluctuating degrees of anoxia-euxinia are inferred throughout the overlying Hue Shale succession, reflected by varying patterns of TE enrichment and TE–TOC covariation. Elevated C org /P molar ratios (>250) across most of the section, with several values exceeding 690, signify that enhanced biological productivity is sustained throughout deposition. Enhanced productivity, recorded by both C org /P and excess Ba, also parallels increases in source rock richness (elevated TOC and S 2 values) during the late Albian–early Cenomanian and late Cenomanian – Turonian. Enhanced productivity and variations in oceanic circulation/stratification likely both drove changes in benthic redox conditions that favored organic carbon accumulation and preservation. Increased continental arc volcanism (e.g., Okhotsk–Chukotka volcanic belt) and High Arctic Large Igneous Province magmatic eruptions throughout the Cretaceous, inferred to have influenced nutrient cycling and local aqueous nutrient availability, also have been invoked as potential drivers of organic carbon burial and source-rock development across the sedimentary sequence. Results presented here document the organic-rich and oil-prone source-rock quality of the Hue Shale in the distal part of the Colville foreland basin and bolster the potential for a Cretaceous petroleum system beneath the eastern North Slope.

Alaska↗