Elevated atmospheric deposition and dynamics of mercury in a remote upland forest of southwestern China.
Mt. Gongga area in southwest China was impacted by Hg emissions from industrial activities and coal combustion, and annual means of atmospheric TGM and PHg concentrations at a regional background station were 3.98 ng m(-3) and 30.7 pg m(-3), respectively. This work presents a mass balance study of Hg in an upland forest in this area. Atmospheric deposition was highly elevated in the study area, with the annual mean THg deposition flux of 92.5 microg m(-2) yr(-1). Total deposition was dominated by dry deposition (71.8%), and wet deposition accounted for the remaining 28.2%. Forest was a large pool of atmospheric Hg, and nearly 76% of the atmospheric input was stored in forest soil. Volatilization and stream outflow were identified as the two major pathways for THg losses from the forest, which yielded mean output fluxes of 14.0 and 8.6 microg m(-2) yr(-1), respectively.
Fu
Xuewu
X
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002, PR China.
Feng
Xinbin
X
Zhu
Wanze
W
Rothenberg
S
S
Yao
Heng
H
Zhang
Hui
H
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000531:Altitude; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000032:analysis; D002681:China; D055907:Climatic Processes; D007700:Kinetics; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014197:Trees / Q000737:chemistry / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism
D000393:Air Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D008628:Mercury