Mercury and methylmercury in soil and vegetation of various polluted areas in Slovenia

摘要

Mercury (Hg) concentrations in soils oscillate locally and depend on the vicinity of contamination sources, geological bedrock composition, soil chemistry, meteorological conditions, vegetation cover and various anthropogenic factors. Besides, Hg concentrations in vegetation depend also on the limited selective uptake, plant metabolism and elimination. Since geologically and pedologically Slovenia represents very heterogeneous area, a systematic grid study was performed in the 1980s and 1990s in order to establish Hg concentrations in soils (LOBNIK et al., 1992; PIRC, 1993; SAJN et al., 1998; SAJN, 1999) - see Fig. 1. Specific concerns were devoted to the urban and industrially polluted areas (SAJN et al., 1998) - see Fig.2a - Ljubljana and to the geological anomaly in the Tdrija area, where rich geological Hg deposits are situated and Hg-ore was exploited for more than 500 years (HESS, 1993; GOSAR & SAJN, 2001) - see Eig.2b However, the need for further measurements and speciation of Hg in soils and vegetation was identified in order to clarify the spatial and temporal distribution of Hg and its transfer to watersheds and biota.