title: A compilation of field surveys on gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) from contrasting environmental settings in Europe, South America, South Africa and China: separating fads from facts.
abstract: Mercury is transported globally in the atmosphere mostly in gaseous elemental form (GEM, [Formula: see text]), but still few worldwide studies taking into account different and contrasted environmental settings are available in a single publication. This work presents and discusses data from Argentina, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Chile, China, Croatia, Finland, Italy, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Slovenia and Venezuela. We classified the information in four groups: (1) mining districts where this contaminant poses or has posed a risk for human populations and/or ecosystems; (2) cities, where the concentration of atmospheric mercury could be higher than normal due to the burning of fossil fuels and industrial activities; (3) areas with natural emissions from volcanoes; and (4) pristine areas where no anthropogenic influence was apparent. All the surveys were performed using portable LUMEX RA-915 series atomic absorption spectrometers. The results for cities fall within a low GEM concentration range that rarely exceeds 30 ng m(-3), that is, 6.6 times lower than the restrictive ATSDR threshold (200 ng m(-3)) for chronic exposure to this pollutant. We also observed this behavior in the former mercury mining districts, where few data were above 200 ng m(-3). We noted that high concentrations of GEM are localized phenomena that fade away in short distances. However, this does not imply that they do not pose a risk for those working in close proximity to the source. This is the case of the artisanal gold miners that heat the Au-Hg amalgam to vaporize mercury. In this respect, while GEM can be truly regarded as a hazard, because of possible physical-chemical transformations into other species, it is only under these localized conditions, implying exposure to high GEM concentrations, which it becomes a direct risk for humans.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ingeniería Geológica y Minera, Escuela Universitaria Politécnica de Almadén, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Plaza M. Meca 1, 13400, Almadén, Spain, pablo.higueras@uclm.es.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Higueras
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oyarzun
authors.forename: Joze
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kotnik
authors.forename: José María
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Esbrí
authors.forename: Alba
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martínez-Coronado
authors.forename: Milena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Horvat
authors.forename: Miguel Angel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: López-Berdonces
authors.forename: Willians
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Llanos
authors.forename: Orlando
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vaselli
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nisi
authors.forename: Nikolay
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mashyanov
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ryzov
authors.forename: Zdravko
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Spiric
authors.forename: Nikolay
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Panichev
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McCrindle
authors.forename: Xinbin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Xuewu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lillo
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Loredo
authors.forename: María Eugenia
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: Pura
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Alfonso
authors.forename: Karla
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Villegas
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Palacios
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oyarzún
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Maturana
authors.forename: Felicia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Contreras
authors.forename: Melitón
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ribeiro-Guevara
authors.forename: Luise Felipe
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Niecenski
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giammanco
authors.forename: Jasna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huremović
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D002681:China; D002947:Cities; D003625:Data Collection; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005060:Europe; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D008906:Mining; D013019:South Africa; D013020:South America; D018707:Volcanic Eruptions
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D008628:Mercury