SEMINAR: Geotopics Today: Atmospheric Chemistry of Mercury (Hg): Insights from Hg stable isotopes

[Andrew Jo <ajo@rsmas.miami.edu>]

Atmospheric Chemistry of Mercury (Hg):
Insights from Hg stable isotopes

Speaker: John Rolison
(National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University)

Monday, September 17, 2012
3:15, SLAB Seminar Room, S/A 103
Refreshments at 3:00 PM 

Brief Description:

 

Mercury (Hg) is a globally distributed trace metal, which has gained significant scientific and environmental regulatory attention due to the extreme toxicity of the organic species methylmercury (CH₃Hg⁺).  The primary pathway for Hg transport from natural and anthropogenic sources to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems is through the atmosphere.  During mobilization and transport, atomic and molecular transformations can fractionate the stable isotopes of Hg.  The resultant isotope ratios can potentially be used to distinguish different Hg reservoirs and identify processes that influenced transport.  The isotopic analysis of species-specific atmospheric Hg is analytically challenging due to the low concentrations of the Hg species and to the ability of Hg to transform from one species to the other with associated isotopic fractionation.  An initial attempt to concurrently collect the three major atmospheric Hg species (Hg⁰, Hg²⁺, and particle-bound Hg) for isotopic composition analysis is presented here.

Hope to see you all there!

Geotopics coordinator,

Mandy Mulcan and Andrew Jo