Projects / Programmes
Innovative isotopic techniques for identification of sources and biogeochemical cycling of mercury in contaminated sites - IsoCont
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 1.04.00 |
Natural sciences and mathematics |
Chemistry |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 1.04 |
Natural Sciences |
Chemical sciences |
mercury, stable isotopes, speciation, Idrija and Gulf of Trieste, river basin, air, land, water, biogeochemistry, sensors, metrology, modeling
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
September 8, 2024;
A3 for period
2018-2022
Data for ARIS tenders (
04.04.2019 – Programme tender,
archive
)
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
1,206 |
30,041 |
25,951 |
21.52 |
| Scopus |
1,350 |
36,761 |
31,988 |
23.69 |
Researchers (26)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
With the signing of the UNEP Minamata Convention in 2013, governments have globally accepted that Hg is global relevance and toxic; scientific needs will therefore shift towards best implementation practices of the Convention. Several articles of the Minamata Convention touch upon this environmental problem, of which Article 12 which deals with contaminated sites is of great importance for Slovenia. Among others this Article requests each Party to develop strategies and to implement activities for identifying, assessing, prioritizing, managing and, as appropriate, remediating contaminated sites. Legacy of the Idrija Mercury Mine which is the second biggest mercury mine in the world is still of great concern. Highly elevated levels of mercury compounds in all environmental compartments of the whole impacted area of the Idrija Mercury Mine, due to centuries of mercury mining, have had a negative impact on human health as well as on the entire ecosystem. Mercury behavior in the environment is very complex and we are far from full understanding of the mechanisms and processes affecting Hg bioavailability, accumulation and transfers in the geo- and biosphere. A number of parameters have been shown to be crucial to describe the cycling and interactions of mercury in the environment, such as solid-liquid partitioning, soil-plant transfer, migration, resuspension, bioavailability and remobilization. Land and resource management, as well as climate change in the impacted area my significantly affect mercury behaviour in the environment. The ability of using stable isotope ratios of Hg as an indicator of Hg biogeochemical processes in environmental studies depends on well-founded constraints on the extent of fractionation during all the transformation processes known to be a part of the global and regional Hg biogeochemical cycles. Isotope geochemistry of Hg will provide clearly defined tracers of sources, quantitative information on mixing, and identification and information on specific geochemical processes. In order to take the advantages of such technology the proposed project will address the following objectives: 1) to improve comparability of measurements in the atmosphere and aquatic environment with the emphasis on stable isotopes using MC-ICP-MS. 2) to validate in-situ biosensors for the determination of bioavailable fraction of mercury in aquatic environment and to test new and validated methodologies in the atmosphere and water in field campaigns; 3) to improve the understanding of the complex physical, chemical and biogeochemical processes of atmospheric Hg fractions/species that govern deposition of oxidized fractions of mercury and re-emission of volatile Hg species in Idrija and the Gulf of Trieste; 4) to improve the understanding of mercury dynamics in riverine and coastal environments of the Gulf of Trieste: assessment of the origins and transformations of all Hg using state of the art tools including novel isotopic techniques; 5) to investigate Hg and MMHg bioaccumulation in lower food webs in coastal/marine environments:; 6) to assess the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to act as a net source or sink of Hg: 7) to model the Hg cycle from emissions/releases to bio-accumulation in marine lower trophic levels: existing numerical atmosphere, ocean, and ecosystem models will be coupled and adapted to model Hg cycling in the riverine and coastal region; and 8) to support the implementation of the Minamata Convention using improved regional modelling tools: 9) to disseminate and communicate the results to the relevant stakeholders nationally and internationally and to make further steps in using the results in the planning of water and land management practices in Idrija and wider.
