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Mobilization of Mercury and Methylmercury from Forest Soils after a Severe Storm-Fell Event

Mercury is an element with a complex biogeochemical cycle inair, soils, water, and biota; mercury originates from bothnatural and anthropogenic sources. Although mercury is anaturally occurring element, human activities have increasedlevels in the environment by about a factor of three globally (1).Humans are exposed to mercury through industry, artisanalgold mining, dental amalgam, and fish consumption. The mainconcern of mercury in the environment is associated withelevated concentrations of methylmercury in fish becausemethylmercury bio-accumulates in freshwater fish at concen-trations that may be harmful to human health. The main healthconcern refers to neurological damage, and unborn fetuses areespecially sensitive to low doses of methylmercury.In boreal regions, mercury in the environment is to a largeextent accumulated in soils and sediments with only smallfractions available for uptake in aquatic food chains. A largefraction of this mercury is of natural origin. However, externalfactors such as forestry operations (2, 3) and storm events canaffect the environmental biogeochemistry of mercury andincrease the risks of bioaccumulation in aquatic ecosystems.In addition to direct atmospheric deposition, mercury leachingfrom forest soil is the most important source of mercury insurface waters, and external factors affecting the forestry systemmay therefore result in a significant increase in the load ofmercury on streams and lakes. This study focuses on twoexamples where an increased mobilization of mercury andmethylmercury from forest soils to aquatic ecosystems has beenobserved: forestry operations and storm-felling.