Mercury Research Highlighted in Prestigious Journal

An article co-authored by Drs. Christopher Babiarz, research associate with the University of Wisconsin Environmental Chemistry and Technology program, and James P. Hurley, assistant director for research at Wisconsin Sea Grant, was featured on the cover of Environmental Science and Technology in December.

”Partitioning of Total Mercury and Methylmercury to the Colloidal Phase in Freshwaters” describes the manner in which mercury is distributed among particulate, colloidal, and dissolved phases in fresh water. This is important because distribution, or “partitioning,” affects the toxicity, transport, and bio-uptake of mercury in fresh water.

In the article, the authors explain that, while the colloidal phase plays a key role in controlling the biogeochemistry of mercury, its importance in fresh waters has been inferred up to now. They address this by using tangential-flow ultrafiltration to cleanly isolate colloids in freshwater samples, resulting in more extensive trace metal characterization. This approach enables the researchers to contrast geochemical characteristics of rivers in the upper Midwest, Georgia, and the Florida Everglades, and to examine the effects of ionic strength and organic carbon on colloidal-phase partitioning mercury.

- Jill Ladwig

Last updated 18 April 2002 by Karl
All contents copyright 2001 University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute

http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/Communications/news/LD_stories/2002/HgHighlighted.html