Mercury as a Global Pollutant: Sources, Pathways, and Effects
By C. Driscoll, R. Mason, H. Chan, D. J. Jacob, N. Pirrone. Environmental Science and Technology, 2013
2,217 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Mercury (Hg) is a global pollutant that affects human and ecosystem health. We synthesize understanding of sources, atmosphere-land-ocean Hg dynamics and health effects, and consider the implications of Hg-control policies. Primary anthropogenic Hg emissions greatly exceed natural geogenic sources, resulting in increases in Hg reservoirs and subsequent secondary Hg emissions that facilitate its global distribution. The ultimate fate of emitted Hg is primarily recalcitrant soil pools and deep ocean waters and sediments. Transfers of Hg emissions to largely unavailable reservoirs occur over the time scale of centuries, and are primarily mediated through atmospheric exchanges of wet/dry deposition and evasion from vegetation, soil organic matter and ocean surfaces. A key link between inorganic Hg inputs and exposure of humans and wildlife is the net production of methylmercury, which occurs mainly in reducing zones in freshwater, terrestrial, and coastal environments, and the subsurface ocean. Elevated human exposure to methylmercury primarily results from consumption of estuarine and marine fish. Developing fetuses are most at risk from this neurotoxin but health effects of highly exposed populations and wildlife are also a concern. Integration of Hg science with national and international policy efforts is needed to target efforts and evaluate efficacy.
Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a2ca80f8e0150938df690916bfbfdb3ada9b8b02
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Citations in the corpus
- Synthesis and characterization of a new starch/SnO2 nanocomposite for efficient adsorption of toxic Hg2+ metal ion (2016, background): “Thus, the addition of inorganic Hg ions and there conversion to methylmercury, which occurs primarily in reducing zones in fresh aquatic bodies, terrestrial, coastal environments, and the subsurface ocean severely impacts the humans and wildlife [24].”