Quantifying soil accumulation of atmospheric mercury using fallout radionuclide chronometry

Joshua D. Landis (), Daniel Obrist, Jun Zhou, Carl E. Renshaw, William H. McDowell, Christopher J. Nytch, Marisa C. Palucis, Joanmarie Vecchio, Fernando Montano Lopez and Vivien F. Taylor
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Joshua D. Landis: Dartmouth College
Daniel Obrist: University of Massachusetts
Jun Zhou: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Carl E. Renshaw: Dartmouth College
William H. McDowell: University of New Hampshire
Christopher J. Nytch: University of Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras
Marisa C. Palucis: Dartmouth College
Joanmarie Vecchio: William and Mary
Fernando Montano Lopez: Dartmouth College
Vivien F. Taylor: Dartmouth College

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Soils are a principal global reservoir of mercury (Hg), a neurotoxic pollutant that is accumulating through anthropogenic emissions to the atmosphere and subsequent deposition to terrestrial ecosystems. The fate of Hg in global soils remains uncertain, however, particularly to what degree Hg is re-emitted back to the atmosphere as gaseous elemental mercury (GEM). Here we use fallout radionuclide (FRN) chronometry to directly measure Hg accumulation rates in soils. By comparing these rates with measured atmospheric fluxes in a mass balance approach, we show that representative Arctic, boreal, temperate, and tropical soils are quantitatively efficient at retaining anthropogenic Hg. Potential for significant GEM re-emission appears limited to a minority of coniferous soils, calling into question global models that assume strong re-emission of legacy Hg from soils. FRN chronometry poses a powerful tool to reconstruct terrestrial Hg accumulation across larger spatial scales than previously possible, while offering insights into the susceptibility of Hg mobilization from different soil environments.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49789-7

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