Monomethylmercury sources in a tropical artificial reservoir |
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| Authors: | Bogdan Muresan Daniel Cossa Sandrine Richard Yannick Dominique |
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| Institution: | 1. Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation durable de la mer (IFREMER), BP 21105, F.44311 Nantes cedex 3, France;2. HYDRECO, Laboratoire de Petit-Saut, BP 823, F.97388 Kourou, French Guiana;3. Laboratoire d’écophysiologie et d’écotoxicologie des systèmes aquatiques (LEESA), CNRS 5805, F.33120 Arcachon, France |
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| Abstract: | The distribution and speciation of mercury (Hg) in the water column, the inputs (wet deposition and tributaries) and the outputs (atmospheric evasion and outlet) of an artificial partially anoxic tropical lake (Petit-Saut reservoir, French Guiana) were investigated on a seasonal basis in order to appraise the cycling and transformations of this metal. The total mercury (HgT) concentrations in the oxygenated epilimnetic waters averaged 5 ± 3 pmol L−1 in the unfiltered samples (HgTUNF) and 4 ± 2 pmol L−1 in the dissolved (HgTD) phase (<0.45 μm). On average, the monomethylmercury (MMHg) constituted 8%, 40% and 18% of the HgT in the dissolved phase, the particulate suspended matter and in the unfiltered samples, respectively. Covariant elevated concentrations of particulate MMHg and chlorophyll a in the epilimnion suggest that phytoplankton is an active component for the MMHg transfer in the lake. In the anoxic hypolimnion the HgTUNF averages 13 ± 6 pmol L−1 and the HgTD 8 ± 4 pmol L−1. The averages of MMHgP and MMHgD in hypolimnetic waters were two and three times the corresponding values of the epilimnion, 170 ± 90 pmol g−1 and 0.9 ± 0.5 pmol L−1, respectively. In the long dry and wet seasons, at the flooded forest and upstream dam sampling stations, the vertical profiles of MMHgD concentrations accounted for two distinct maxima: one just below the oxycline and the other near the benthic interface. Direct wet atmospheric deposition accounted for 14 moles yr−1 HgTUNF, with 0.7 moles yr−1 as MMHgUNF, while circa 76 moles yr−1 of HgTUNF, with 4.7 moles yr−1 as MMHgUNF, coming from tributaries. Circa 78 moles (∼17% as MMHg) are annually exported through the dam, while 23 moles yr−1 of Hg0 evolve in the atmosphere. A mass balance calculation suggests that the endogenic production of MMHgUNF attained 8.1 moles yr−1, corresponding to a methylation rate of 0.06% d−1. As a result, the Petit-Saut reservoir is a large man-made reactor that has extensively altered mercury speciation in favor of methylated species. |
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