The impact of sulfate reduction on the distribution of methylmercury in reservoirs in the city of Guiyang

• Published in: Acta geochimica Vol. 32; no. 1; pp. 104 - 109
• Main Authors: He, Tianrong, Li, Ting, Yang, Ruidong, Luo, Guangjun, Lang, Xiaofang, An, Yanling, Yan, Haiyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg SP Science Press 01.03.2013; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Elevated; Geochemistry; Lakes; Limnology; Mercury; Methylation; Methylmercury; Pore water; Porosity; Reservoirs; Sulfate reduction; Sulfates; Sulfides; 孔隙水; 水浓度; 甲基化; 甲基汞; 硫酸盐还原菌; 红枫湖; 贵阳市; 阿哈水库; China; methylmercury; Hongfeng, Aha and Baihua reservoirs; sulfate reduction; sulfate-reducing bacterium; pore water
• ISSN: 1000-9426; 2096-0956; 1993-0364; 2365-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11631-013-0612-8

In this paper, the relationship between sulfate reduction potential and mercury methylation potential was studied in the Aha, Baihua and Hongfeng reservoirs from Guiyang City, The methylmercury （MeHg） concentrations of lake water in the Aha Reservoir were greatly elevated as compared to those of the Hongfeng and Baihua reser- voirs, which was correlated with its distinctly high SRB abundance, SO42, and S2 concentrations. Among the three reservoirs, however, the highest MeHg was observed in in the top several centimenters of pore water profile in the Hongfeng Reservoir where the lowest S2 in pore water occurred. The distributions of MeHg in lake water and pore water showed the highest methylation potential occurred at water-sediment surface for the Aha Reservoir and the in the top several centimenters of sediments for the Hongfeng Reservoir. It is guessed that the highest mercury methy- lation only occurs at the sites with certain sulfide concentrations.