The low-temperature chemistry associated with environmentally available mercury has recently attracted considerable scientific interest due to the discovery of systemic gas-phase mercury depletion events (MDEs) which occur periodically at the poles. However, the fate of the mercury once it enters the snowpack is not fully understood, even its chemical speciation has yet to be well characterized. An issue that is of particular concern in frozen environments is the transformation of elemental mercury (Hg(0)) to more bioavailable oxidized forms, which can then be methylated by biotic and abiotic processes. The resulting methyl mercury species produced can bioaccumulate through the food chain and the health effects of this on humans and mammals have been well-documented. During the current study, a novel set of "freeze-induced" pathways, which can potentially affect the reactivity of dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM) were followed. The experiments were performed using environmentally relevant cosolutes at appropriate concentration levels and temperatures. Evidence is thereby presented that due to rate accelerations associated with the operation of the freeze-concentration effect, DGM is oxidized to Hg(2+) ions when frozen in the presence of a variety of materials including hydrogen peroxide, nitrous acid and the sulfuric acid/O(2) couple.
© 2012 American Chemical Society