Abstract
Mercury content in river sediments was investigated, in the Haut Maroni river basin (French Guyana, South America), around Antecume-Pata, a village where Wayanas Amerindians are contaminated with mercury. Solid sediment particulate total mercury content indicate a 100 to 150 ng/g Hg geochemical background level. Sediments act as an environmental archive: gold mining contaminated sediments have up to 400 ng/g total mercury. Pore waters from contaminated sediments are enriched in Fe(II) and Hg(II) by a factor 40 compared to uncontaminated sediment pore waters, due to more acute anoxic conditions. They act therefore as a major source of dissolved mercury in remote tropical aquatic ecosystems.
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