Geomorphic controls on mercury accumulation in soils from a historically mined watershed, Central California Coast Range, USA |
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| Authors: | JoAnn M Holloway Martin B Goldhaber Jean M Morrison |
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| Institution: | aUS Geological Survey, Denver, CO 80225, USA |
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| Abstract: | Historic Hg mining in the Cache Creek watershed in the Central California Coast Range has contributed to the downstream transport of Hg to the San Francisco Bay-Delta. Different aspects of Hg mobilization in soils, including pedogenesis, fluvial redistribution of sediment, volatilization and eolian transport were considered. The greatest soil concentrations (>30 mg Hg kg−1) in Cache Creek are associated with mineralized serpentinite, the host rock for Hg deposits. Upland soils with non-mineralized serpentine and sedimentary parent material also had elevated concentrations (0.9–3.7 mg Hg kg−1) relative to the average concentration in the region and throughout the conterminous United States (0.06 mg kg−1). Erosion of soil and destabilized rock and mobilization of tailings and calcines into surrounding streams have contributed to Hg-rich alluvial soil forming in wetlands and floodplains. The concentration of Hg in floodplain sediment shows sediment dispersion from low-order catchments (5.6–9.6 mg Hg kg−1 in Sulphur Creek; 0.5–61 mg Hg kg−1 in Davis Creek) to Cache Creek (0.1–0.4 mg Hg kg−1). These sediments, deposited onto the floodplain during high-flow storm events, yield elevated Hg concentrations (0.2–55 mg Hg kg−1) in alluvial soils in upland watersheds. Alluvial soils within the Cache Creek watershed accumulate Hg from upstream mining areas, with concentrations between 0.06 and 0.22 mg Hg kg−1 measured in soils  90 km downstream from Hg mining areas. Alluvial soils have accumulated Hg released through historic mining activities, remobilizing this Hg to streams as the soils erode. |
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