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Roberts SL, Kirk JL, Muir DCG, Wiklund JA, Evans MS, Gleason A, Tam A, Drevnick PE, Dastoor A, Ryjkov A, Yang F, Wang X, Lawson G, Pilote M, Keating J, Barst BD, Ahad JME, Cooke CA. Quantification of Spatial and Temporal Trends in Atmospheric Mercury Deposition across Canada over the Past 30 Years. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2021; 55:15766-15775. [PMID: 34792335 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.1c04034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Mercury (Hg) is a pollutant of concern across Canada and transboundary anthropogenic Hg sources presently account for over 95% of national anthropogenic Hg deposition. This study applies novel statistical analyses of 82 high-resolution dated lake sediment cores collected from 19 regions across Canada, including nearby point sources and in remote regions and spanning a full west-east geographical range of ∼4900 km (south of 60°N and between 132 and 64°W) to quantify the recent (1990-2018) spatial and temporal trends in anthropogenic atmospheric Hg deposition. Temporal trend analysis shows significant synchronous decreasing trends in post-1990 anthropogenic Hg fluxes in western Canada in contrast to increasing trends in the east, with spatial patterns largely driven by longitude and proximity to known point source(s). Recent sediment-derived Hg fluxes agreed well with the available wet deposition monitoring. Sediment-derived atmospheric Hg deposition rates also compared well to the modeled values derived from the Hg model, when lake sites located nearby (<100 km) point sources were omitted due to difficulties in comparison between the sediment-derived and modeled values at deposition "hot spots". This highlights the applicability of multi-core approaches to quantify spatio-temporal changes in Hg deposition over broad geographic ranges and assess the effectiveness of regional and global Hg emission reductions to address global Hg pollution concerns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah L Roberts
- Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, Ontario L7R 4A6, Canada
| | - Jane L Kirk
- Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, Ontario L7R 4A6, Canada
| | - Derek C G Muir
- Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, Ontario L7R 4A6, Canada
| | - Johan A Wiklund
- Biology Department, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
| | - Marlene S Evans
- Watershed Hydrology and Ecology Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 3H5, Canada
| | - Amber Gleason
- Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, Ontario L7R 4A6, Canada
| | - Allison Tam
- Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, Ontario L7R 4A6, Canada
| | - Paul E Drevnick
- Alberta Environment and Parks, 3535 Research Road NW, Calgary, Alberta T2L 2K8, Canada
- National Institute of Scientific Research, Centre Eau Terre Environment, 490 rue de la Couronne, Québec, Québec G1K 9A9, Canada
| | - Ashu Dastoor
- Air Quality Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Québec H9P 1J3, Canada
| | - Andrei Ryjkov
- Air Quality Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Québec H9P 1J3, Canada
| | - Fan Yang
- Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, Ontario L7R 4A6, Canada
| | - Xiaowa Wang
- Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, Ontario L7R 4A6, Canada
| | - Greg Lawson
- Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, Ontario L7R 4A6, Canada
| | - Martin Pilote
- Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Montréal, Québec H2Y 2E7, Canada
| | - Jonathan Keating
- Watershed Hydrology and Ecology Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 3H5, Canada
| | - Benjamin D Barst
- National Institute of Scientific Research, Centre Eau Terre Environment, 490 rue de la Couronne, Québec, Québec G1K 9A9, Canada
- Water and Environment Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775, United States
| | - Jason M E Ahad
- Geological Survey of Canada─Québec Division, Québec G1K 9A9, Canada
| | - Colin A Cooke
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E3, Canada
- Alberta Environment and Parks, 9888 Jasper Ave, Edmonton, Alberta T5J 5C6, Canada
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