Mercury in the Pacific Ocean

in ecoTrain3 years ago
Greetings dear friends.

Mercury has been a very useful element for science and industry, its function is recognizable in thermometers, barometers and thermostats, also for the development of amalgams used in dentistry, and to manufacture elements such as fluorescent tubes, mercury lamps and switches, just to mention some of the best known uses, because at the industrial level it has also had many uses in the manufacture of various products such as cosmetics, chlorine and caustic soda. But just as it is useful, it is also toxic, and its industrial use has considerably triggered its presence in the environment, generating major problems that are still a headache for scientists.


This metal accumulates in fish and other marine species. Source: pixabay.com.

The big problem with this ductile metal and most of its compounds is that they are extremely toxic, and can be absorbed through the skin and mucous membranes, concentrating in the organism through so-called bioaccumulation. And although regulations have been imposed to avoid occupational exposure due to its use in industry, the situation is that due to these industries and its commercial use it has filtered into aquatic ecosystems, where it is retained in the fish organism, and through its accumulation in the food chain, very high concentrations of this pollutant are reached for people. In other words, small fish are devoured by large fish and thus more toxic compounds accumulate in the most voracious species, such as tuna or emperor fish, representing a great danger to people.

Mercury of natural origin, from the erosion of rocks containing the metal, or of anthropogenic origin enters the oceans through rivers and sewage discharges, and becomes part of the marine biota and from there passes into the food chain, also joining organic matter which is deposited on the seabed, accumulating in the sediments. As a result, oceanic water masses have come to accumulate high concentrations of mercury and its compounds.

For this reason, a team of scientists from several countries set out to quantify the presence of mercury in the depths of the Pacific Ocean. And the results are alarming, according to research recently published in the Scientific Reports of the journal Nature describes that the amounts of mercury found in this almost inaccessible area of the planet, the hadal located more than 6 km deep, far exceed those found in other deep ocean sediments (>200 m).


Ocean bottom sediments are concentrating very high levels of mercury. Source: pxhere.com.

The study reported the first measurements of Hg fluxes in the two hadal trenches, Atacama and Kermadec, and adjacent abyssal zones (2-6 km). Mercury concentrations of up to 400 ng g-1 were found, being the highest recorded in marine sediments far from any anthropogenic source.

Although these results are preliminary and further measurements are still needed to corroborate the results, the study has revealed that mercury pollution is higher than previously thought in the deep ocean, and that further studies are needed to better understand some aspects of the cycling of this metal and its compounds, which is important to measure the actual removal rate and global modeling of mercury, an indispensable step to reduce mercury pollution in our oceans.


Thanks for coming by to read friends, I hope this information has been of interest to you. See you next time!


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Hi @emiliomoron
This is a very sensitive issue, and I hope that further progress will be made in the investigation of this problem and that a viable solution will be found as soon as possible.
Thanks for sharing.
Regards.

That's right friend, let's hope that this type of research will open the way for other studies that will provide a solution to the problem. Greetings, and thanks for reading.