Hg Pollution Indices along the Reis Magos River Basin—Brazil: A Precursory Study

Eldis Maria Sartori, Bruna Miurim Dalfior, Carolina Scocco Provete, Suellen Geronimo Cordeiro, Maria Tereza Weitzel Dias Carneiro, Maria de Fátima Fontes Lelis, Gilberto Fonseca Barroso and Geisamanda Pedrini Brandão ()
Additional contact information
Eldis Maria Sartori: Laboratory of Atomic Spectrometry (LEA)—Chemistry Department, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória 29075-910, Brazil
Bruna Miurim Dalfior: Laboratory of Atomic Spectrometry (LEA)—Chemistry Department, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória 29075-910, Brazil
Carolina Scocco Provete: Laboratory of Atomic Spectrometry (LEA)—Chemistry Department, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória 29075-910, Brazil
Suellen Geronimo Cordeiro: Laboratory of Atomic Spectrometry (LEA)—Chemistry Department, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória 29075-910, Brazil
Maria Tereza Weitzel Dias Carneiro: Laboratory of Atomic Spectrometry (LEA)—Chemistry Department, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória 29075-910, Brazil
Maria de Fátima Fontes Lelis: Water Laboratory—Chemistry Department, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória 29075-910, Brazil
Gilberto Fonseca Barroso: Limnology and Environmental Planning Laboratory (LimnoLab)—Department of Oceanography and Ecology, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória 29075-910, Brazil
Geisamanda Pedrini Brandão: Laboratory of Atomic Spectrometry (LEA)—Chemistry Department, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória 29075-910, Brazil

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-14

Abstract: Mercury is a metal present in the Earth’s crust, but due to human contribution, its concentration can increase, causing environmental impacts to aquatic ecosystems, among others. The Reis Magos River Hydrographic Basin represents economic and socio-environmental importance for the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. However, there are not many publications regarding the quality of water and sediments, so no data is reported concerning the total concentration of Hg. Thus, the present work aimed to evaluate the distribution of total Hg in water and sediments along this hydrographic basin. For a better inference, physicochemical parameters of the water were determined (temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), turbidity, dissolved oxygen (DO), total dissolved solids (TDS), and salinity), and in the sediments, the contents of matter organic matter, pH, carbonates and granulometry. Mercury determination was performed by Thermodecomposition and Amalgamation Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (TDA AAS) with a DMA-80 spectrometer. The Hg determined in the water was lower than the limit of quantification, 0.14 µg∙L −1 , which is lower than the maximum limits recommended by world reference environmental agencies. In the sediment samples, the Hg found were below 170 µg∙kg −1 , values below which there is less possibility of an adverse effect on the biota. However, when the degree of anthropic contribution was evaluated using the Geoaccumulation index (IGeo), the contamination factor (CF), and the ecological risk potential index (E F ), there was evidence of moderate pollution. Thus, this highlighted the need for monitoring the region since climatic variations and physical-chemical parameters influence the redistribution of Hg between the water/sediment interface.

Keywords: mercury monitoring; environmental samples; direct determination; pollution indices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12626/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12626/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:12626-:d:932416

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().