Mercury Biogeochemical Cycling in Soils and Sediments

A special issue of Soil Systems (ISSN 2571-8789).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2024) | Viewed by 4703

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Geostatistics and Environmental Geochemistry Laboratory, University of Brasilia, Campus Planaltina, Brasília 73345-010, Brazil
Interests: soil science; mercury biogeochemical cycles; spatial distribution of mercury hotspot; mercury and metilmercury in trophic webs; mercury toxic risks; mercury exposure
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Guest Editor
Environmental Biogeochemistry Laboratory, Federal University of Rondônia, Campus Porto Velho, Porto Velho 76901-000, Brazil
Interests: ecotoxicology; heavy metals; mercury and metilmercury; mercury exposure
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Faculty UnB at Planaltina, University of Brasilia, Brasília 73345-010, Brazil
Interests: mercury cycling; amazon; mercury ecotoxicology; mercury toxic risks; mercury exposure
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Guest Editor
Analytical and Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, Instituto de Química, University of Brasilia, Brasília 70919-970, Brazil
Interests: mercury contamination; distribution of mercury in the environment; analytical aspects of mercury in samples of environmental interest; environmental ecotoxicology and human health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The United Nations considered mercury (Hg) a global pollutant, since it is present in all environmental compartments and brings risks to the environment and human health. Due to these risks, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) created the Global Mercury Assessment. Subsequently, the Minamata Convention established a global treaty to control and/or reduce Hg emissions.

In order for this global treaty to be effective, it is necessary that government officials have the political will to control and monitor emissions, and that expert scientists develop more in-depth studies capable of clarifying the complexity of mercury’s biogeochemical cycle and its influence on the environment and human health.
Thus, with the aim of welcoming the contribution from scientists, we have listed some areas that need clarity regarding the biogeochemical cycle of Hg:

  1. Mass balance (emission and re-emission) of Hg in soil and sediment compartments;
  2. Effects of local and regional emission and re-emission hot spots on the global Hg cycle;
  3. The influence of land use and climate change on the Hg biogeochemical cycle;
  4. The effects of forest fires on the Hg biogeochemical cycle in the soil and sediment compartments;
  5. Understanding the complexity of the ecological trophic structure of communities in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems from mercury’s potential for bioaccumulation and biomagnification in food webs.

Prof. Dr. José Vicente Elias Bernardi
Prof. Dr. Wanderley Rodrigues Bastos
Dr. Carlos José Sousa Passos
Prof. Dr. Jurandir Rodrigues De Souza
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • mercury contamination
  • methylmercury
  • ecotoxicology
  • soil
  • decomposers
  • sediments
  • benthos
  • plankton
  • fish
  • spatial distribution
  • land uses
  • climatic change
  • riverside population

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 2488 KiB  
Article
Spatial and Seasonal Patterns of Mercury Accumulation in Paddy Soil around Nam Son Landfill, Hanoi, Vietnam
by Nguyen Thi Quynh, Huiho Jeong, Ahmed Elwaleed, Willy Cahya Nugraha, Koji Arizono, Tetsuro Agusa and Yasuhiro Ishibashi
Soil Syst. 2024, 8(1), 30; https://doi.org/10.3390/soilsystems8010030 - 4 Mar 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2032
Abstract
Landfills have the potential to contribute to mercury (Hg) pollution, due to the burial of waste containing mercury. Mercury from domestic waste can enter the soil surrounding landfills through surface runoff and leachate. In this study, we assessed the levels of Hg in [...] Read more.
Landfills have the potential to contribute to mercury (Hg) pollution, due to the burial of waste containing mercury. Mercury from domestic waste can enter the soil surrounding landfills through surface runoff and leachate. In this study, we assessed the levels of Hg in the paddy soil around the Nam Son landfill, the largest landfill in the North of Vietnam, during both rainy (September 2021) and dry (January 2022) seasons. The concentration of Hg was in the range of 20.5 to 79.7 μg/kg dry w.t. in Bac Son and Nam Son, and 16.6 μg/kg dry w.t. at a higher reference site. In most of the samples, the rainy season showed higher Hg concentrations than the dry season. Soil samples taken closer to the landfill exhibited higher levels of Hg contamination compared to those in more distant paddy areas, suggesting a decreasing trend of Hg concentration as one moves away from the pollution source. Additionally, Hg concentration was found to decrease vertically from the surface, with the higher value observed in the surface layer (0–5 cm), and the lower in the bottom layer (20–25 cm). The geo-accumulation index showed that all the sampling points were moderately to heavily polluted, indicating that Hg was lost from the waste source in the landfill. This study provides valuable insights into the spatial and vertical distribution of Hg pollution in the topsoil and highlights the importance of managing and assessing the risks of Hg-containing waste. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mercury Biogeochemical Cycling in Soils and Sediments)
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12 pages, 1684 KiB  
Article
Sediment Mercury, Geomorphology and Land Use in the Middle Araguaia River Floodplain (Savanna Biome, Brazil)
by Lilian Moraes, José Vicente Elias Bernardi, João Pedro Rudrigues de Souza, Joelma Ferreira Portela, Ludgero Cardoso Galli Vieira, Carlos José Sousa Passos, Jurandir Rodrigues de Souza, Wanderley Rodrigues Bastos, Lucas Cabrera Monteiro, Ygor Oliveira Sarmento Rodrigues and José Garrofe Dorea
Soil Syst. 2023, 7(4), 97; https://doi.org/10.3390/soilsystems7040097 - 27 Oct 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1705
Abstract
In order to assess the influencing factors of the presence of mercury in a river within the Savanna biome (Cerrado), we surveyed total mercury (THg) in bottom sediment from 50 lakes along 750 km of the Middle Araguaia floodplain. The sampling sites included [...] Read more.
In order to assess the influencing factors of the presence of mercury in a river within the Savanna biome (Cerrado), we surveyed total mercury (THg) in bottom sediment from 50 lakes along 750 km of the Middle Araguaia floodplain. The sampling sites included non-urban and urban surroundings over three distinct geomorphologies. We measured water physicochemical parameters at each site and tested statistically if land use nested within the geological formation influenced the THg concentration in bottom sediments and related water parameters. Multivariate results indicate that the interaction between geological groups and land use is statistically significant (p < 0.05). Nested ANOVA and Tukey HSD tests confirmed that the geological formation with its nested land use influences the THg, pH, DO, conductivity, and TDS (p < 0.05). THg was significantly lower in Quaternary terrains (p < 0.05) and differed significantly between non-urban and urban areas in Neoproterozoic terrains (p = 0.02). The spatial projections of the THg eigenvector on the main axes with the scoring factors of the Neoproterozoic/Paleoproterozoic terrains, and urban/non-urban, confirmed the spatial correlations. These results indicate that the association of land use and geology could be the main driver of THg in the bottom sediments of lakes from the Middle Araguaia floodplain. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mercury Biogeochemical Cycling in Soils and Sediments)
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