Mercury in European topsoils: Anthropogenic sources, stocks and fluxes.

ABSTRACT: Mercury (Hg) is one of the most dangerous pollutants worldwide. In the European Union (EU), we recently estimated the Hg distribution in topsoil using 21,591 samples and a series of geo-physical inputs. In this manuscript, we investigate the impact of mining activities, chrol-alkali industries and other diffuse pollution sources as primary anthropogenic sources of Hg hotspots in the EU. Based on Hg measured soil samples, we modelled the Hg pool in EU topsoils, which totals about 44.8 Gg, with an average density of 103 g ha^-1. As a following step, we coupled the estimated Hg stocks in topsoil with the pan-European assessment of soil loss due to water erosion and sediment distribution. In the European Union and UK, we estimated that about 43 Mg Hg yr^-1 are displaced by

SUBMITTER: Panagos P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8503384 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature