Vertical distribution of mercury species at two sites in the Western Black Sea

A preliminary mass balance for Hg in the Black Sea, including source terms such as precipitation, river and Mediterranean water inflow as well as the evasional sink and Bosphorus outflow indicates that a large additional input term is required that is greater than 68 kmol year− 1. Potential candidates include tectonic-related sources and river-derived pollution. Scaling the total inputs to the Black Sea by area of the basin indicates that this system is comparably impacted by Hg as an urbanized embayment such as Long Island Sound or Chesapeake Bay.