Passive Samplers Deployment in the Ayapel Swamp for Monitoring Temporal Dynamics of Mercury in the Water Column

摘要

Passive sampling is a simple and efficacious sampling technique that guarantees a safe collection and transportation of samples to the analysis site, and obtaining results with more temporal resolution. As a case of study, passive samplers were deployed in the Ayapel Swamp, Colombia, located in the influence zone of open pit gold mines. Mercury, iron and manganese were sampled at two different depths by the Chemcatcher~® passive sampler and regular grab sampling. Additionally, dissolved oxygen, oxidation-reduction potential, pH and water temperature were measured. The results showed that depth and time did not have a significant influence (ANOVA, confidence level of 95%) on mercury concentration on both passive samplers and grab sampling. However, concentration of Fe and Hg in passive samplers had a high positive correlation, but it may be because depth increase during sampling period caused the dilution of both analytes. In conclusion, passive samplers proved to be a valuable tool for understanding the response of mercury to the Ayapel Swamp dynamics.