Mercury in sediments from gold and copper exploitation areas in the Camaquã River Basin, Southern Brazil

Abstract

Mercury concentrations were determined in stream sediments from the Camaquã River Basin, located in the shield region of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. The resulting geochemical data show that overbank floodplain deposits exhibit higher concentrations than sediments collected from the active channel bed. In addition, higher Hg concentrations were measured in the fine(<63μm) sediment fraction of the samples. Total Hg concentrations in the fine fraction of active stream sediments from Lavras do Sul County, which have been influenced by past gold mining activities, have decreased during the last five years to values ≤142ngg−1. However, in a settling pond containing abandoned mine wastes, the Hg concentration of a bulk sample remained exceptionally high (5220ngg−1). Preliminary speciation results show that Hg0 is the predominant species in most of the samples. This was the form of Hg released by the gold amalgamation activities in the area, and appears to be relatively stable under the existing Eh and pH conditions.