Adapted Sequential Extraction Protocol to Study Mercury Speciation in Gold Mining Tailings: Implications for Environmental Contamination in the Amazon.

ABSTRACT: Artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM), an increasingly prevalent activity in South America, generates mercury-contaminated tailings that are often disposed of in the environment, leading to the introduction of mercury into ecosystems and the food web, where it bioaccumulates. Therefore, studying the geochemical processes involved in the desorption and dissolution of mercury in these tailings is essential for critical risk evaluations in the short and long term. For this purpose, sequential extraction procedures (SEPs) can be useful because they help to identify the phases to which Hg is associated, although they also have limitations such as a lack of selectivity and specificity. In this work, we propose a modified four-step SEP: exchangeable mercury (F1), oxidizable mercury (F2), mercu

SUBMITTER: de Souza JPR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11125949 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature