title: Spatial variation, fractionation and sedimentary records of mercury in the East China Sea.
abstract: Surface and core sediments were collected to study distributions, phases and potential environmental risk of Hg and to reconstruct anthropogenic Hg change over the past one hundred years in the East China Sea (ECS). Hg contents in surface sediments displayed a decreasing gradient from the Changjiang Estuary to the outer sea. Sequential extraction analysis showed that Hg mainly existed as residual fraction (70.18% of total), and while organic matter fraction (22.96% of total) was the main component of labile fraction, indicating the strong adsorption of organic matters on Hg. Enrichment factor and sediment quality guidelines suggested that Hg in sediments of ECS were at minor enrichment and low adverse effect. Temporal distributions of total Hg content, labile fraction, burial flux and anthropogenic Hg flux showed that anthropogenic Hg input increased since the 1960s, which was related to riverine input and atmospheric transport.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China.
authors.forename: Li-Qin
authors.initials: LQ
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China. Electronic address: jmsong@qdio.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Jin-Ming
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Marine Science and Engineering College, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China.
authors.forename: Hua-Mao
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China.
authors.forename: Xue-Gang
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D005591:Chemical Fractionation; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D063366:Estuaries; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D008628:Mercury
keywords: Environmental risk; Mercury; Phase; Sediment; Sedimentary record; The East China Sea