Mercury (Hg) is listed within the top 10 environmental pollutants by United Nations and poses great threats to terrestrial and marine food webs, primarily due to its potential to be transformed to methylmercury, a neurotoxin. Both geogenic processes (e.g., volcanic and hydrothermal degassing) and human activities (e.g., silver/gold mining, fossil fuel combustion, non-ferrous metal smelting, and intentional use of commercial Hg in chlor-alkali plants and electronic devices) liberate Hg from Earth’s lithosphere into the surface environment. Understanding the natural and anthropogenic Hg cycles is critical to quantify the amounts of anthropogenic legacy Hg accumulated at the Earth’s surface, and to predict how the enforcement of the legally binding Minamata Convention on Mercury will affect Hg cycling in surface earth reservoirs.
Over the last two decades, the knowledge of Hg sources and transformation mechanisms has been significantly advanced and is reasonably well established. However, large uncertainties still exist regarding the rates and magnitude of numerous fluxes and transformations including atmospheric Hg oxidation/reduction, Hg dry/wet deposition, and marine-atmosphere and terrestrial-atmosphere Hg exchange in atmospheric, terrestrial, and aquatic systems. This limits our ability to assess the risks associated with future environmental and human exposure to Hg. The recent developments of new technologies and approaches such as Hg genomics, Hg sensors, stable Hg isotopes, theoretical chemistry, and Earth system Hg modeling have provided strong constraints and new insights on Hg sources and behaviors. For example, the applications of Hg isotopes in tracing atmospheric Hg deposition pathways to land and oceans reveal that the deposition flux of gaseous elemental Hg far exceeds that of oxidized Hg. This dramatically changes the traditional Hg models that are in favor of oxidized Hg deposition. We have only yet begun to understand the consequences of such a paradigm shift, and we are now thus at a turning point in Hg science.
This Research Topic aims to bring together new knowledge on the sources, fates, and behavior of Hg in the surface earth environment. A broad range of contributions will be considered, which includes topic reviews, case studies, and implications for legislation and management. Contributing papers can address one or more of the following topics:
• Historical shifts of Hg emission and deposition from specific sources
• Sources that are potentially important, but are not accounted in global Hg budgets
• Novel findings of environmental Hg behavior
• New analytical methods for Hg species and stable Hg isotope ratios
• Sources and transport processes of atmospheric Hg in pristine regions
• Advances in atmospheric, terrestrial, and marine Hg modeling
• Regulation, governance, policy, and science related to the Minamata Convention
Please visit the specialty section homepages to see the available article types which include original research, reviews, mini-reviews, policy briefs, and policy and practice reviews.
Mercury (Hg) is listed within the top 10 environmental pollutants by United Nations and poses great threats to terrestrial and marine food webs, primarily due to its potential to be transformed to methylmercury, a neurotoxin. Both geogenic processes (e.g., volcanic and hydrothermal degassing) and human activities (e.g., silver/gold mining, fossil fuel combustion, non-ferrous metal smelting, and intentional use of commercial Hg in chlor-alkali plants and electronic devices) liberate Hg from Earth’s lithosphere into the surface environment. Understanding the natural and anthropogenic Hg cycles is critical to quantify the amounts of anthropogenic legacy Hg accumulated at the Earth’s surface, and to predict how the enforcement of the legally binding Minamata Convention on Mercury will affect Hg cycling in surface earth reservoirs.
Over the last two decades, the knowledge of Hg sources and transformation mechanisms has been significantly advanced and is reasonably well established. However, large uncertainties still exist regarding the rates and magnitude of numerous fluxes and transformations including atmospheric Hg oxidation/reduction, Hg dry/wet deposition, and marine-atmosphere and terrestrial-atmosphere Hg exchange in atmospheric, terrestrial, and aquatic systems. This limits our ability to assess the risks associated with future environmental and human exposure to Hg. The recent developments of new technologies and approaches such as Hg genomics, Hg sensors, stable Hg isotopes, theoretical chemistry, and Earth system Hg modeling have provided strong constraints and new insights on Hg sources and behaviors. For example, the applications of Hg isotopes in tracing atmospheric Hg deposition pathways to land and oceans reveal that the deposition flux of gaseous elemental Hg far exceeds that of oxidized Hg. This dramatically changes the traditional Hg models that are in favor of oxidized Hg deposition. We have only yet begun to understand the consequences of such a paradigm shift, and we are now thus at a turning point in Hg science.
This Research Topic aims to bring together new knowledge on the sources, fates, and behavior of Hg in the surface earth environment. A broad range of contributions will be considered, which includes topic reviews, case studies, and implications for legislation and management. Contributing papers can address one or more of the following topics:
• Historical shifts of Hg emission and deposition from specific sources
• Sources that are potentially important, but are not accounted in global Hg budgets
• Novel findings of environmental Hg behavior
• New analytical methods for Hg species and stable Hg isotope ratios
• Sources and transport processes of atmospheric Hg in pristine regions
• Advances in atmospheric, terrestrial, and marine Hg modeling
• Regulation, governance, policy, and science related to the Minamata Convention
Please visit the specialty section homepages to see the available article types which include original research, reviews, mini-reviews, policy briefs, and policy and practice reviews.
