Comparison of total mercury and methylmercury cycling at five sites using the small watershed approach

The small watershed approach is well-suited but underutilized in mercury research. We applied the small watershed approach to investigate total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) dynamics in streamwater at the five diverse forested headwater catchments of the US Geological Survey Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB) program. At all sites, baseflow THg was generally less than 1 ng L⁻¹ and MeHg was less than 0.2 ng L⁻¹. THg and MeHg concentrations increased with streamflow, so export was primarily episodic. At three sites, THg and MeHg concentration and export were dominated by the particulate fraction in association with POC at high flows, with maximum THg (MeHg) concentrations of 94 (2.56) ng L⁻¹ at Sleepers River, Vermont; 112 (0.75) ng L⁻¹ at Rio Icacos, Puerto Rico; and 55 (0.80) ng L⁻¹ at Panola Mt., Georgia. Filtered (