title: Distribution and elevated soil pools of mercury in an acidic subtropical forest of southwestern China.
abstract: Tieshanping catchment in southwest China was supposed to a large pool of atmospheric mercury. This work was aimed to examine THg (total mercury) concentrations, pools and influence factors in the acidic forest. THg concentrations were highly elevated in the study area, which was significantly depended on TOM (total organic matter) concentrations and altitudinal elevation, whereas negatively correlated with soil pH. The pools of mercury accumulated in soils were correlated strongly with the stocks of TOM and altitude, ranged from 5.9 to 32 mg m(-2) and averaged 14.5 mg m(-2), indicating that the acidic forest was a great sink of atmospheric mercury in southwest China. THg concentrations in stream waters decreased with altitude increasing and regression analyses showed that soil/air exchange flux would be increased with the decrease of altitude. Present results suggest that elevation increasing decreases THg losses as low THg concentrations in runoffs and volatilization from soils.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. Electronic address: wangzhw@rcees.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Zhangwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoshan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000531:Altitude; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D065928:Forests; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D008628:Mercury
keywords: Soil mercury pool; Soil solution; Soil/air exchange flux; Stream water