Mercury cycling in the Czech GEOMON network catchments recovering from acid deposition and facing climate change

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F67985831%3A_____%2F25%3A00619220" target="_blank" >RIV/67985831:_____/25:00619220 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/67985874:_____/25:00619220 RIV/00025798:_____/25:10169677

Result on the web

<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10533-025-01231-w" target="_blank" >https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10533-025-01231-w</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10533-025-01231-w" target="_blank" >10.1007/s10533-025-01231-w</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Mercury cycling in the Czech GEOMON network catchments recovering from acid deposition and facing climate change

Original language description

We used the catchment mass balance approach to investigate mercury (Hg) cycling at the 14 forested GEOMON catchments of the Czech Geological Survey. The temperate forest catchments had variable exposure to historic high sulfur (S) and Hg emissions, and span a range of size and elevation. We monitored monthly Hg inputs (bulk precipitation, throughfall, litterfall) and outputs (stream runoff) during 2020–2022. The catchments spanned a large gradient of historic Hg deposition, but current Hg patterns more closely aligned with catchment factors like local climate, as influenced by elevation, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations, and geology. The dominant pathway of Hg input was litterfall (averaging 44.5 ± 15.7 μg m−2 yr−1, > 91% of total input). Two surprising findings were that GEOMON had low Hg concentrations and fluxes in general but had the highest litterfall Hg fluxes in Europe, and these increased even further in forested areas that had bark beetle infestations. Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), measured using passive samplers, was consistently low (1.25 to 1.66 ng m−3) across the 14 catchments. Stream Hg output varied across catchments and averaged 1.5 ± 1.7 μg m−2 yr−1. The average Hg retention rate at the 14 GEOMON catchments, calculated as the fraction of average Hg inputs (throughfall + litterfall) that remained in the catchment and did not run off in streamwater, was 97%. The high catchment Hg retention combined with its strong association with DOC suggests that with climate change intensification of carbon cycling, these catchments will be a Hg source for decades to come.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10511 - Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA20-14292S" target="_blank" >GA20-14292S: Mercury - overlooked threat in the Czech ecosystems responding to global change</a><br>

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Biogeochemistry

ISSN

0168-2563

e-ISSN

1573-515X

Volume of the periodical

168

Issue of the periodical within the volume

3

Country of publishing house

DE - GERMANY

Number of pages

26

Pages from-to

45

UT code for WoS article

001475367100001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105003496849