| Project Title |  |
| Forms and sources of
mercury in mercury-contaminated lake sediments and fish.
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| Research Team | |
| T.A. Jackson, National
Water Research Institute, Burlington, Ontario. P.I. Email: t.a.jackson@cciw.ca Collaborators: J. Carrier and others [National Laboratory for Environmental Testing, Burlington, Ontario]; K. Telmer [University of Victoria, British Columbia]; J. Azcue [Laboratorio Nacional de Engenharia Civil, Lisbon, Portugal].
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| Project Summary | |
| Specific forms of mercury in sediment
cores from lakes contaminated with mercury from industrial sources (including chlor-alkali
plants and a smelter) are being determined. The sediments are also being analysed for
selected physicochemical properties that are relevant to the biogeochemistry, forms, and
distribution of mercury, and fish samples are being analysed as well. The lakes in
question are Lake Ontario and a group of small lakes in Quebec, and the sources of mercury
pollution are industrial complexes along the Niagara River and the Noranda-Rouyn smelter,
respectively. The purpose of the investigation is to differentiate between anthropogenic
and natural sources of mercury, to assess the relative importance of mercury loading and
postdepositional redistribution of mercury in determining the vertical profile of mercury
in the cores, to compare effects of natural and anthropogenic loading, and to gather
information on biogeochemical processes affecting the distribution, behaviour, and forms
of anthropogenic and natural mercury in the environment.
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