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A simulative mesocosm study was conducted to evaluate the influence of wet-dry rotation on mercury (Hg) flux from soil/water to air and the distribution of Hg species in water as well as Hg chemical fractions in soil. Three types of soil were employed including two kinds of paddy soil, Typic Purpli-Udic Cambosols (TPUC) and Xanthi-Udic Ferralosols (XUF), as well as the Alluvial Soil (AS) from Three Gorge reservoir area in Chongqing, China. The results showed that Hg fluxes in wetting periods were significantly higher than that in drying periods. It might be due to the formation of a layer of stable air over the water surface in which some redox reactions promote evasion processes over the water surface. This result indicated that more Hg would be evaporated from the Three Gorge reservoir and paddy soil field during the flooding season. Hg fluxes were positively correlated with air temperature and solar irradiation, while negatively correlated with air humidity and the electronic conductivity of water. Hg fluxes from AS and TPUC were significantly higher than that from XUF, which might be due to the higher organic matter (OM) contents in XUF than TPUC and AS. The reduction processes of oxidized Hg were restrained due to the strong binding of Hg to OM, resulting in the decrease in Hg flux from the soil., (Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays an important role in the process of mercury release from water body. In this study, the influence of DOM from different sources (DOM(R), DOM(S) and DOM(H), extracted from rice straw, compost and humic soil respectively) on mercury reduction was investigated. The molecular weight distribution and chemical composition of DOM from each source were determined using ultrafiltration membrane technique and elemental analysis respectively. The result showed that mercury release from DOM-added samples was much lower than the control; the lowest mercury release flux was observed in the treatment of DOM(H), 25.02% of the control, followed by DOM(S) and DOM(R), 62.46% and 64.95% of the control, respectively. The higher saturation degree and lower molecular weight of DOM(H) was responsible for the highest inhibition degree on the mercury release. The link between DOM(H), concentration and mercury flux was also estimated and the result showed that mercury flux was increased with DOM(H) at lower concentration, while decreased with DOM(H) at higher concentration. Different mechanism dominated the influence of DOM on mercury release with variation of DOM concentration.

Emissions of mercury (Hg) to air have regional and global impacts through long range transport in the atmosphere. Primary Zn production is regarded as an important anthropogenic Hg source in China, but research on its Hg emission is limited. To gain a better understanding of Hg emissions from Zn production activities in China, field investigations at four industrial-scale Zn production plants using electrostatic process with Hg removal (HP-WR), electrostatic process without Hg removal (HP-WOR), retort Zn production (RZ), imperial smelting process (ISP), and one artisanal Zn smelting process (AZ) were carried out. In the investigation, Hg emission factors are defined as how much Hg was emitted to the atmosphere per ton Zn produced during various Zn production methods and were estimated by using mass balance method. The results showed that the estimated Hg emission factors of Zn production were 5.7+/-4.0 g Hg t(-1) Zn for HP-WR, 31+/-22 g Hg t(-1) Zn for HP-WOR, 34+/-71 g Hg t(-1) Zn for RZ, 122+/-122 g Hg t(-1) Zn g t(-1) for ISP, and 75+/-115 g Hg t(-1) Zn for AZ. Approximately 80.7-104.2 t year(-1) of Hg was emitted to atmosphere from primary Zn production during the period of 2002-2006 in China., (Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In order to investigate the spatial and temporal variability of atmospheric mercury (Hg) in Chongqing, China, gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) was measured from August 2006 to September 2007, using Lumex multifunctional mercury analyzer RA-915(+) (Lumex Ltd., Russia). The mean GEM concentration was 6.74 +/- 0.37 ng m(-3) in Chongqing, much higher than the accepted global background values (1.5-2 ng m(-3)). The GEM concentrations were different in different function areas. GEM in transport, industrial and commercial areas were 7.07 +/- 1.04, 7.05 +/- 0.96 and 6.71 +/- 1.10 ng m(-3), respectively, while GEM was 6.14 +/- 1.30 and 4.32 +/- 1.04 in the educational/recreational and nature conservation areas, suggesting that Hg emissions from mobile vehicles and industrial sources (specially coal combustion) were the most important contributors to atmospheric Hg in Chongqing. Mean Hg concentrations also had monthly variations with highest in November (8.24 +/- 0.50 ng m(-3)) and lowest values in August (5.36 +/- 0.70 ng m(-3)). Additionally, the diurnal variation of GEM concentrations was dependent on the local/regional atmospheric conditions. At Jinyun Mountain site (natural conservation area), hourly GEM concentrations had much higher values in daytime than at night. At Power Plant site, however, the hourly GEM concentrations were lower in daytime than at night. GEM concentrations in the air were correlated significantly with meteorological parameters except for barometric pressure.

Effects of dissolved organic matter (DOM) on adsorption and desorption of Hg were investigated in two kinds of soils, Xanthi-Udic Ferralosols (XUF) and Typic Purpli-Udic Cambosols (TPUC). The DOM was obtained from humus soil (DOMH), rice straw (DOMR), and pig manure (DOMP). The presence of DOM obviously reduced Hg maximum adsorption capacity with up to 40% decreases over the control, being an order of DOMH (250.00 mg/kg) < DOMR (303.03 mg/kg) < DOMP (322.58 mg/kg) < CK (control 416.67 mg/kg) for the XUF and DOMH (270.27 mg/kg) < DOMR (312.50 mg/kg) < DOMP (324.23 mg/kg) < CK (476.11 mg/kg) for the TPUC, respectively. The inhibition of DOM on Hg adsorption was slightly weaker in XUF than in TPUC. Meanwhile, the DOM promoted Hg desorption from the soils. The kinetic models, the Two-constant equation and Elovich equation, were applicable to describe the adsorption and desorption processes of Hg in soils. The speed of Hg adsorption was consistently slowed down by the existence of DOM.