Mercury in the Environment

USGS provides information on mercury sources; mercury cycling in the atmosphere, land surface, lakes, streams and oceans; and bioaccumulation and toxicity of mercury. This information helps land and resource managers understand and reduce mercury hazards to people and wildlife.

USGS scientists -- get your mercury-related content on www.usgs.gov/mercury ->

Background

USGS Fact Sheets on Mercury in the Environment

Worldwide supply & demand and flow of mercury

Mercury in U.S. Coal

Featured Publications

MERGANSER: An Empirical Model To Predict Fish and Loon Mercury in New England Lakes (17 April 2012)

Mercury dynamics in a San Francisco Estuary tidal wetland: assessing dynamics using in situ measurements (3 April 2012)

Hydrology and Methylmercury Availability in Coastal Plain Streams (21 March 2012)

Landscape controls on total and methyl Hg in the upper Hudson River basin, New York, USA (20 March 2012)

Dissolved organic matter enhances microbial mercury methylation under sulfidic conditions (6 February 2012)

Hormesis Associated with a Low Dose of Methylmercury Injected into Mallard Eggs (January 2012)

Mercury speciation and transport via submarine groundwater discharge at a Southern California coastal lagoon system (27 January 2012)

Characterizing mercury concentrations and fluxes in a Coastal Plain watershed: Insights from dynamic modeling and data (26 January 2012)

Tidally Driven Export of Dissolved Organic Carbon, Total Mercury, and Methylmercury from a Mangrove-Dominated Estuary (19 January 2012) Press release

Increased atmospheric deposition of mercury in reference lakes near major urban areas (13 December 2011) Press release

Recent paleorecords document rising mercury contamination in Lake Tanganyika (13 November 2011)

Mercury in the Great Lakes Region. USGS scientists contributed to this multi-institutional assessment, on the following six papers:

The Great Lakes regional assessment was led by researchers at Biodiversity Research Institute and the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. Further information. (updated 11 October 2011)

Mercury Export from the Yukon River Basin and Potential Response to a Changing Climate (12 September 2011)

Formation of nanocolloidal metacinnabar in mercury-DOM-sulfide systems (11 August 2011)

Methyl mercury dynamics in a tidal wetland using in situ optical measurements (July 2011)

Spatial and seasonal variability of dissolved methylmercury in two stream basins in the eastern United States (15 March 2011)

USGS Science Activities

National Mercury Studies

Mercury Studies in Your State

Research on Mercury Cycling in Aquatic Ecosystems

Mercury Related to Mining and Natural Geologic Sources

Mercury Bioaccumulation and Toxicity

Mercury Atmospheric Deposition

Measuring Mercury in the Environment

USGS scientists who study mercury

Meetings and Conferences *

National Monitoring Conference, National Water Quality Monitoring Council, April 30-May 4, 2012. Several mercury sessions are planned.

9th INTECOL International Wetlands Conference, Orlando, June 3-8, 2012. Mercury sessions are planned for this conference. Abstracts due December 16, 2011.

< Archive of meetings and conferences >

Twitter feed *
Other agency links *

USEPA mercury information (US Environmental Protection Agency)

Mercury Deposition Network (National Atmospheric Deposition Program)

NOAA's Atmospheric Mercury program (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Air Toxics Monitoring Programs

Mercury ToxFAQs™: Chemical Agent Briefing Sheets (ATSDR)

NESCAUM Mercury Emission Control Studies

South Florida Mercury Science Program

United Nations Environment Programme--Reducing Risk from Mercury





* DOI and USGS link policies apply.


 

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