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CHINESE JOURNAL OF GEOCHEMISTRY

Vol. 25 (Suppl.) 2006

Characteristics of distribution and migration of mercury in the sediment-water interface of Poyang Lake, China

Tianlong DENG 1'2,Mengxia LIAO 1, Haiyang YU 1, Yi WU1

College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China 2 Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China

Environmental pollution is one of several essential problems of concern global. Although total mercury concentration in the lake is at trace or even ultra-trace level, it is greatly harmful to human health through food chain by the enrichment in fish, etc. There a r e numerous lakes in China to prove us a natural laboratory. Poyang Lake, located in the north of Jiangxi Province and to the south of mid-to-low reaches of the Yangtze River is the largest freshwater lake in China. Based on the investigation of geological and hydrologic features of Poyang Lake, three zones corresponding to Ruihong in Yugan County, Kangshan in Poyang County and Hukou in Hukou County were chosen in winter and summer seasons. The aim of this study is, through the speciation analysis, to reveal the distributions and seasonal character behaviors of trace mercury at the sediment-water-interface (SWI) of Poyang Lake, which was not yet been reported in literature. A novel procedure for speciation analysis of trace and ultratrace mercury in natural water systems using hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry was established in the study, then the mercury species in porewaters and sediments in the mentioned three fields of Poyang Lake were measured successfully after the novel procedure was e~tablished. The vertical distributions of dissolved mercury species and diagenetic constituents [Fe (II) and Mn (II)] in porewaters collected from the three regions were measured. The sedimentary concentration profiles of total Hg, Hg species bound to Fe-Mn oxyhydroxides and to organic matter were also determined along with the concentrations of Fe, Mn and S in different extractable fractions. Based on those series data, regulative behaviors of removement and transformation of mercury species in Poyang Lake were revealed. It is demonstrated that the vertical distributions of mercury in the porewater and sediments in the three regions have good correlations and seasonal changes have a significant distinctness. The horizontal distribution behavior of mercury within the Lake is that the outflow of Poyang Lake> stream lake > the center of the lake. Key words Poyang Lake; geochemistry; mercury; speciation analysis

Exposure of smelting workers to mercury vapor with indigenous method for mercury smelting in Wuchuan areas, Guizhou Province, China

Ping LI 1'2, Xinbin FENG 1, Guangle QIU 1, Minishi Sakamoto3, Xiaojie LIU 3
1 State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002, China 2 The Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beo'ing 100039, China 3 National Institute for Minamata Disease, Minamata, Japan

Small-scale mercury smelting activities with indigenous method are always extensive in the Wuchuan area, northeastern Guizhou Province, China. Because of the simple processes without any environmental protection, a large amount of mercury vapor released to the ambient air during the processing of cinnabar roasting. So the health of the workers may be negatively affected through inhalation of the mercury-polluted air. Mercury, creatinine and 132-MG contents in urine among the workers in the study areas and the residents in the control site (Changshun County) were determined to discuss the health impact of mercury vapor exposure to the workers in the study areas. Health examinations also were carried out to identify clinical symptoms of mercury poisoning for the smelting workers. Results indicated that the geometric mean value of urinary mercury for the smelting workers was g/g Cr ~tg/g Cr (N=22), significantly higher than 1.24 lag/g (I'4--54) for residents in the control site. [32-MG as a renal biomarker can be used to study human nephrotoxicity at an early stage and it is most useful to define effects for assessing re-absorption function to indicate tubular injury, The results showed a serious adverse effect on renal system for the smelting workers due to mercury exposure. Several workers have already manifested some clinical symptoms of lightly chronic mercury poisoning and the symptoms include finger and eyelid lightly tremor, gingivitis and blue mercury line in mouth. The study illuminated that the workers in gaged in indigenous mercury smelting in the Wuchuan area were seriously exposed to mercury vapor, even several of them have suffered lightly chronic poisoning for mercury and the mercury exposure showed a serious adverse effect on the renal system for the smelting workers. Key words mercury vapor exposure; smelting worker; indigenous method; Wuchuan areas; China