Imaging and microanalyses of mercury in flood plain soils of east fork poplar creek

Abstract

Electron probe microanalysis, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry, optical microscopy, and x-ray diffractometry were used to locate, identify, and analyze Hg-bearing matter in the soils from the East Fork Poplar Creek floodplain located adjacent to D.O.E.'s Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant1 Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Several significant findings were made in this study; namely, that ash concentration in soils is an indicator of Hg enrichment, the modes of occurrence of Hg are identical in so-called Hg-rich and Hg-poor soils, and Hg was found to coexist with S in all cases. In addition to Hg other materials employed at the Oak Ridge site such as U, Th, alloys, and rare earth were also observed.