Grantee Research Project Results
2004 Progress Report: Assessment of Natural Source (Geologic and Vegetation) Mercury Emissions: Speciation, Mechanisms and Significance
EPA Grant Number: R829800Title: Assessment of Natural Source (Geologic and Vegetation) Mercury Emissions: Speciation, Mechanisms and Significance
Investigators: Gustin, Mae Sexauer , Zehner, Richard E. , Rytuba, James J. , Johnson, Dale W. , Zhang, Hong , Ericksen, Jody , Fay, Laura , Engle, Mark , Xin, Mei , Weisburg, Peter , Pillai, Rekha , Lyman, Seth , Lindberg, Steve , Kuiken, Todd
Current Investigators: Gustin, Mae Sexauer , Zehner, Richard E. , Rytuba, James J. , Johnson, Dale W. , Hatchett, Ben , Sedinger, Ben , Hanson, Brian , Peterson, Christianna , Weaver, Coty , Zhang, Hong , Stamenkovic, Jelena , Ericksen, Jody , Fay, Laura , Martindale, Lindsey , Engle, Mark , Xin, Mei , Markee, Melissa , Weisburg, Peter , Pillai, Rekha , Lyman, Seth , Lindberg, Steve , Kuiken, Todd , Ellis, Tyler
Institution: University of Nevada - Reno , United States Geological Survey , University of Michigan , Desert Research Institute , University of Tennessee
Current Institution: University of Nevada - Reno , Desert Research Institute , Tennessee Technological University , United States Geological Survey , University of Tennessee
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2005 (Extended to December 31, 2007)
Project Period Covered by this Report: January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2005
Project Amount: $891,545
RFA: Mercury: Transport, Transportation, and Fate in the Atmosphere (2001) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Heavy Metal Contamination of Soil/Water , Air Quality and Air Toxics , Safer Chemicals , Air
Objective:
The overall objective of this research project is to develop data sets and process-level information on mercury (Hg) fluxes between soil, vegetation, and air that will allow us to assess the significance of natural source Hg emissions relative to anthropogenic emissions for the United States.
The specific objectives of this research project are to: (1) quantify Hg emissions from representative sources that have significant terrestrial coverage, including geologically natural Hg enriched areas, background areas, and biotic sources (plants and forest fires); (2) develop process-level information on gaps in understanding of micrometeorological parameters and substrate characteristics controlling Hg emission and deposition to and from soils; (3) quantify the potential for re-emission of elemental and reactive Hg by substrates; (4) investigate the speciation of atmospheric Hg associated with naturally enriched sites; and (5) use a geographic information system (GIS) framework to scale natural source Hg emissions for the United States.
Progress Summary:
Objective 1
Data have been compiled and written up describing several field initiatives. All the data have been collected and compiled into a manuscript describing Hg emissions associated with three geothermal areas situated in geologically distinct settings. The flux data collected from background soils in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Colorado, California, North Dakota, and Nevada have been compiled and summarized in a manuscript submitted for publication with some discussion regarding scaling the flux data obtained at these background sites in the conterminous United States. A full year of monthly flux data for the Standing Stone background site in Tennessee has been collected and the results are being compiled into a manuscript. A field initiative has been initiated to measure Hg flux associated with forest settings along the East Coast. Sampling will be done in seven forested areas within state parks from South Carolina to Maine during a month-long field initiative starting in May. This is a collaborative effort between the University of Nevada and the Tennessee Technological Institute. Data from three areas impacted by wildfires are in the process of being assimilated and a manuscript describing the results will be finalized this summer. Data are being collected in controlled multiple plant exposure chambers using tree species looking at the influence of three soil exposure concentrations and three air exposure concentrations on Hg uptake and assimilation by foliage and the whole plant. We are using naturally enriched substrates and will be able to compare and contrast our results with results obtained using the same plant species grown in soils amended with HgCl2, the form of Hg expected in precipitation. We went to Oregon and established some field sites to measure Hg flux associated with vegetation growing in Hg contaminated soil associated with a mineralized area. It is expected that field data will be collected at the end of this summer.
Objective 2
Manuscripts describing the influence of soil moisture and atmospheric oxidants on soil Hg flux have been accepted and submitted, respectively. Both parameters have been found to exert as much influence as light on enhancing Hg emissions from soils. These are important results that will be applied in our scaling process. The controlled laboratory studies assessing the influence of soil properties on elemental Hg flux as well as the potential for re-emission driven by environmental factors such as light, specifically ultraviolet radiation, relative humidity, and soil moisture will be completed this summer. The data collected at the long-term sites have been compiled and the primary driver for Hg emissions based on field data at background sites were found to be soil moisture and light. Some detailed data have been collected to allow for comparison of Hg fluxes measured using dynamic field chambers, micrometeorological methods, and mesocosms to develop a basis for how data collected using these methods may be applied for scaling. This work is summarized in a manuscript that is ready for submission.
Objective 3
Work is being done to assess the potential for elemental Hg and reactive Hg deposition to pure substrates and soils and the importance of re-emission. Laboratory work looking at elemental Hg exchange will be finished this summer. In late summer, a stable isotope spike of HgCl2 in water was applied to desert soils to look at the potential for re-emission of Hg deposited in precipitation. Simultaneously, with tracking of the stable Hg isotope spike, the behavior of ambient Hg or Hg already in the system was measured. A manuscript has been submitted on this project. Additional work is being done monitoring atmospheric Hg speciation in Reno at the Desert Research Institute and at the two Mercury Deposition Network sites here in Nevada. We are using several methods to try and measure dry deposition of elemental and reactive Hg at these two sites. This work will be done through this year and into next year.
Objective 4
Speciation data for Hg in the air collected at background and naturally enriched sites and a summary are being compiled for a manuscript that will be completed by the end of summer 2005. Significant laboratory work to understand the release of reactive gaseous Hg from naturally enriched substrates has been conducted. Significant results are that reactive gaseous Hg is emitted from soils. This emission is related to Hg speciation in the soil and exposure to atmospheric oxidants. Reactive gaseous Hg is typically 5 percent of the total Hg at naturally enriched sites, which is a similar percentage of that found for background sites. The absolute concentration is higher, however, at naturally enriched sites because of the higher total Hg concentrations in the air.
Objective 5
The personnel working on this objective has changed. As a result, limited progress was made this year on Objective 5. This objective involves a synthesis of the work on the other objectives and related research.
Future Activities:
Objective 1
We have several field initiatives planned for this year, including measurement of surface fluxes from forests along the East Coast of the United States and in Oregon, as well as measurement of atmospheric Hg speciation and the potential for dry deposition of elemental, reactive, and particulate Hg in Reno, and at two Mercury Deposition Network (MDN) sites in Nevada. Laboratory work quantifying the role of plants in the biogeochemical cycling of Hg and the influence of air and soil Hg concentrations on foliar Hg concentrations using soils that are naturally enriched in Hg will be conducted.
Objective 2
Laboratory study of the influence of soil properties on elemental Hg soil exchange will be completed this summer. This work will be compared with data developed in the field from the same soils used in the laboratory experiments, and will be used along with field data for developing algorithms for scaling natural source emissions.
Objective 3
Laboratory experiments will be completed this summer investigating the potential for elemental Hg re-emission from background soils. Data collected at the MDN sites will help in better understanding the potential for deposition of elemental and reactive Hg. Data from Objective 2 and this experiment will be compiled to help with scaling. The Tennessee Technological Institute will establish laboratory experiments to investigate Hg cycling in forest soils.
Objective 4
We will measure reactive gaseous Hg emissions upwind and downwind of a naturally enriched site ( Ivanhoe, Nevada) where Hg fluxes have been characterized. This did not take place last year because of the timing of equipment arrival and weather conditions precluding getting to the field site, which is in a remote part of Nevada. We also will characterize Hg speciation and deposition on two sides of a Hg enriched belt in Nevada at the two MDN sites. A manuscript summarizing data already collected on Hg speciation at naturally enriched sites will be completed and submitted this summer, and another one summarizing the work described here will be initiated.
Objective 1
We have had a change in personnel working on this project. Rick Zehner is no longer on the project and Dr. Peter Weisberg, a landscape ecologist with strong GIS and spatial modeling skills (faculty member at the University of Nevada–Reno), will oversee the scaling component of this project. We will have a meeting of all researchers on the project in June 2005 and establish a protocol for scaling. We will start scaling with California and move from there to the conterminous United States. We will have a technician dedicated to this work for more than half the year and expect to make significant progress on this component given the data we have collected and the new expertise.
Journal Articles on this Report : 10 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 78 publications | 31 publications in selected types | All 29 journal articles |
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Engle MA, Gustin MS, Lindberg SE, Gerler AW. Investigation of the effect of tropospheric oxidants on Hg emissions from substrates. Materials and Geoenvironment 2004;51(3):1546-1549. |
R829800 (2004) R829800 (Final) |
Exit |
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Engle MA, Gustin MS, Lindberg SE, Gertler AW, Ariya PA. The influence of ozone on atmospheric emissions of gaseous elemental mercury and reactive gaseous mercury from substrates. Atmospheric Environment 2005;39(39):7506-7517. |
R829800 (2004) R829800 (2005) R829800 (Final) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Engle MA, Gustin MS, Goff F, Counce DA, Janik CJ, Bergfeld D, Rytuba JJ. Atmospheric mercury emissions from substrates and fumaroles associated with three hydrothermal systems in the western United States. Journal of Geophysical Research 2006;111, D17304, doi:10.1029/2005JD006563. |
R829800 (2004) R829800 (2006) R829800 (Final) |
Exit |
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Ericksen JA, Gustin MS, Lindberg SE, Olund SD, Krabbenhoft DP. Assessing the potential for re-emission of mercury deposited in precipitation from arid soils using a stable isotope. Environmental Science & Technology 2005;39(20):8001-8007. |
R829800 (2004) R829800 (2005) R829800 (Final) |
Exit |
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Ericksen JA, Gustin MS, Xin M, Weisberg PJ, Fernandez GCJ. Air-soil exchange of mercury from background soils in the United States. Science of the Total Environment 2006;366(2-3):851-863. |
R829800 (2004) R829800 (2005) R829800 (2006) R829800 (Final) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Gustin MS, Stamenkovic J. Effect of watering and soil moisture on mercury emissions from soils. Biogeochemistry 2005;76(2):215-232. |
R829800 (2004) R829800 (2005) R829800 (Final) |
Exit |
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Gustin M, Zehner R, Stamenkovic J. Experimental examination of the influence of precipitation and moisture content on mercury emissions from soils. Materials and Geoenvironment 2004;51(3):1592-1595. |
R829800 (2004) R829800 (Final) |
Exit |
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Nacht DM, Gustin MS, Engle MA, Zehner RE, Giglini AD. Atmospheric mercury emissions and speciation at the Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine Superfund Site, Northern California. Environmental Science & Technology 2004;38(7):1977-1983. |
R829800 (2004) R829800 (Final) R827634 (Final) |
Exit |
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Nacht DM, Gustin MS. Mercury emissions from background and altered geologic units throughout Nevada. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution 2004;151(1-4):179-193. |
R829800 (2004) R829800 (Final) R827634 (Final) |
Exit |
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Obrist D, Gustin MS, Arnone III JA, Johnson DW, Schorran DE, Verburg PSJ. Measurements of gaseous elemental mercury fluxes over intact tallgrass prairie monoliths during one full year. Atmospheric Environment 2005;39(5):957-965. |
R829800 (2004) R829800 (2005) R829800 (Final) |
Exit Exit Exit |
Supplemental Keywords:
air, ambient air, atmosphere, land, soil, adsorption, metals, heavy metals, scaling, terrestrial, public policy, decisionmaking, environmental chemistry, biology, geology, modeling, monitoring, analytical, EPA Regions,, Scientific Discipline, Air, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, Waste, TREATMENT/CONTROL, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, POLLUTANTS/TOXICS, Air Quality, air toxics, Treatment Technologies, Environmental Chemistry, Chemicals, Fate & Transport, Environmental Monitoring, Bioremediation, Chemistry and Materials Science, fate and transport, contaminated sediments, air pollutants, Hg, mercury, mercury emissions, modeling, mercury cycling, hazardous waste, chemical kinetics, contaminants in soil, bioremediation of soils, atmospheric mercury chemistry, mercury chemistry, phytoremediation, atmospheric chemistry, atmospheric mercury cycling, atmospheric deposition, contaminant transport models, heavy metals, mercury vapor, atmospheric mercuryProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.