Abstract
INDUSTRIAL mercury discharges into natural waters have been effectively reduced during the past several years in the United States. In areas such as Mobile Bay, which previously received sufficient quantities of anthropogenic mercury effluents to require a ban on commercial fisheries, it is now critical to determine if the residual contaminated sediments are a reservoir of mercury compounds which could be detrimental to the fishery on a long term basis. It is well established that mercury accumulates in particulate material1,2 and may subsequently be transferred from sediment to fish3. Laboratory studies4 suggest that diagenetic processes in natural sediments can transform inorganic mercury to mono and dimethylmercury, increasing the pollution hazard. The methylated forms of mercury have been found to be more toxic to organisms than inorganic or phenyl mercury compounds5,6. Here we report the first published results on the concentration and distribution of methylmercury compounds in natural sediments from polluted and unpolluted coastal environments.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Klein, D. H., and Goldberg, E. D., Environ. Sci. Tech., 4, 765 (1970).
Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap., 713 (US Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1970).
Gillespie, D. C., J. Fish. Res. Bd Can., 29, 1035 (1972).
Jensen, S., and Jernelov, A., Nature, 223, 753 (1969).
Harriss, R. C., White, D. B., and Macfarlane, R. B., Science, N.Y., 170, 736 (1970).
Lofroth, G., Swedish natn. Sci. Res. Council Ecol. Res. Comm., Bull., No. 4 (1969).
Muscat, V. I., Vickers, T. J., and Andren, A. W., Analyt. Chem., 44, 218 (1972).
Rudling, L., Mimeographed procedure from Swedish Air and Water Pollution Research Laboratory, Stockholm (1970).
Jernelov, The Changing Chemistry of the Ocean, Nobel Symposium 20 (edit. by Dyrssen, D., and Jagner, D.) (1972).
Lindberg, S., thesis, (Florida State Univ., 1973).
Johansson, B., Ryhage, R., and Westoo, G., Acta Chem. Scand., 24, 2349 (1970).
Zitko, V., Finlayson, B. J., Wildish, D., Anderson, J., and Kohler, A., J. Fish. Res. Bd Can., 28, 1285 (1971).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
ANDREN, A., HARRISS, R. Methylmercury in Estuarine Sediments. Nature 245, 256–257 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/245256a0
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/245256a0
This article is cited by
-
Fish Mercury and Surface Water Sulfate Relationships in the Everglades Protection Area
Environmental Management (2014)
-
An Assessment of Mercury Loading in Core Sediments of Sunderban Mangrove Wetland, India (A Preliminary Report)
Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (2008)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.