Effect of organic matter and pH on mercury release from soils

An investigation was conducted on the effect of organic matter (OM) and pH on mercury (Hg) release from soils. Hg release flux was measured using the dynamic flux chamber (DFC) combined with the Lumex® multifunctional mercury analyzer in both laboratory experiment and field monitoring. The results showed that Hg emission from the OM-added soils was apparently low because of the high affinity of OM to Hg, resulting in the reverse order as the amount of OM addition. Meanwhile, Hg release flux from different pH value soils exhibited the same trend for both Hg2+ and Hg22+ treatment, increasing the Hg flux with pH value of soils increasing. The trend of Hg release in the pH dependence experiment has been well in agreement with that from the field test. In addition, Hg release seemed to be related to its species in the soil, the flux from Hg2+-added soil was obviously higher than that of Hg22+-added soil by the laboratory experiment.