Departamento de Petrologia e Metalogenia, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Câmpus de Rio Claro, Av. 24-ANo.1515, C.P. 178, CEP 13506-900 Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil.
College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Qld 4001, Australia.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2018 Dec 30;166:354-358. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2018.09.099. Epub 2018 Oct 1.
Mercury pollution of water bodies exerts significant human and ecosystem health impacts due to high toxicity. Relatively high levels of mercury have been detected in the Amazon River and its tributaries and associated lakes. The study employed a Bayesian Network approach to investigate the contribution from geogenic sources to mercury pollution of lakes in the Madeira River basin, which is the largest tributary of the Amazon River. It was found that the source indicators of naturally occurring mercury have both, positive and negative relationships with mercury in lake sediments. Although the positive relationships indicated the influence of geological and soil formations, the negative relationships implied that the use of mercury amalgam for gold extraction in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), which is the primary anthropogenic source of mercury, also contribute to mercury in Amazon tributaries. This was further evident as mercury concentrations in lake sediments were found to be significantly higher than those in the surrounding rocks. However, potential anthropogenic mercury was attributed to historical inputs from gold mining due to the recent decline of ASM mining practice in the region.
水体中的汞污染由于其高毒性，对人类和生态系统健康产生了重大影响。在亚马逊河及其支流和相关湖泊中，已经检测到相对较高水平的汞。本研究采用贝叶斯网络方法，调查了地质来源对马德拉河流域湖泊汞污染的贡献，马德拉河流域是亚马逊河最大的支流。研究发现，自然汞的源指标与湖泊沉积物中的汞既有正相关关系，也有负相关关系。虽然正相关关系表明了地质和土壤形成的影响，但负相关关系表明，在小规模采金（ASM）中使用汞合金进行黄金开采，这是汞的主要人为来源，也会导致亚马逊支流中的汞含量增加。这一点进一步表明，湖泊沉积物中的汞浓度明显高于周围岩石中的汞浓度。然而，由于该地区 ASM 开采实践的近期减少，人为汞的潜在来源归因于历史上金矿开采的投入。
