Mercury records from natural archives reveal ecosystem responses to changing atmospheric deposition.

ABSTRACT: Global ecosystems face mercury contamination, yet long-term data are scarce, hindering understanding of ecosystem responses to atmospheric Hg input changes. To bridge the data gap and assess ecosystem responses, we compiled and compared a mercury accumulation database from peat, lake, ice and marine deposits worldwide with atmospheric mercury deposition modelled by GEOS-Chem, focusing on trends, magnitudes, spatial-temporal distributions and impact factors. The mercury fluxes in all four deposits showed a 5- to 9-fold increase over 1700-2012, with lake and peat mercury fluxes that generally mirrored atmospheric deposition trends. Significant decreases in lake and peat mercury fluxes post-1950 in Europe evidenced effective environmental policies, whereas rises in East Asia, Africa and Ocean

SUBMITTER: Chen Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11660912 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature