TY - JOUR
T1 - Mercury sources and physicochemical characteristics in ice, snow, and meltwater of the Laohugou Glacier Basin, China
AU - Paudyal, Rukumesh
AU - Kang, Shichang
AU - Guo, Junming
AU - Tripathee, Lekhendra
AU - Sharma, Chhatra Mani
AU - Huang, Jie
AU - Li, Yang
AU - Yan, Fangping
AU - Wang, Kun
AU - Chen, Jizu
AU - Qin, Xiang
AU - Sillanpaa, Mika
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - In this work, samples of surface snow, surface ice, snow pit and meltwater from the Laohugou Glacier No. 12 on the northern edge of Tibetan Plateau (TP) were collected during the summer of 2015. The average concentration of Hg in surface snow/ice was 22.41 ng L−1, while the percentage of dissolved mercury (HgD) was observed to be around 26%. An altitudinal magnification of Hg was not observed for surface snow; however, in contrast, a significant positive magnification of Hg with altitude was observed in the surface ice. A higher concentration of Hg corresponded with the dust layer of the snow pit. It was observed that about 42% of Hg was lost from the surface snow when the glacier was exposed to sunlight within the first 24 h indicating some Hg was emitted back to the atmosphere while some were percolated downwards. The result from the principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the sources of Hg in Laohugou Glacier No. 12 were from crustal and biomass burning. Finally, it was estimated that total export of Hg from the outlet river of Laohugou glacier No. 12 in the year 2015 was about 1439.46 g yr−1 with yield of 22.77 μg m2 yr−1. This study provides valuable insights for understanding the behavior of Hg in the glacier of the northern Tibetan Plateau.
AB - In this work, samples of surface snow, surface ice, snow pit and meltwater from the Laohugou Glacier No. 12 on the northern edge of Tibetan Plateau (TP) were collected during the summer of 2015. The average concentration of Hg in surface snow/ice was 22.41 ng L−1, while the percentage of dissolved mercury (HgD) was observed to be around 26%. An altitudinal magnification of Hg was not observed for surface snow; however, in contrast, a significant positive magnification of Hg with altitude was observed in the surface ice. A higher concentration of Hg corresponded with the dust layer of the snow pit. It was observed that about 42% of Hg was lost from the surface snow when the glacier was exposed to sunlight within the first 24 h indicating some Hg was emitted back to the atmosphere while some were percolated downwards. The result from the principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the sources of Hg in Laohugou Glacier No. 12 were from crustal and biomass burning. Finally, it was estimated that total export of Hg from the outlet river of Laohugou glacier No. 12 in the year 2015 was about 1439.46 g yr−1 with yield of 22.77 μg m2 yr−1. This study provides valuable insights for understanding the behavior of Hg in the glacier of the northern Tibetan Plateau.
KW - Glacier
KW - Laohugou Glacier No. 12
KW - Mercury
KW - Qilian Mountain
KW - Snow
KW - Tibetan Plateau
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105924997&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11356-021-14334-2
DO - 10.1007/s11356-021-14334-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 33987720
AN - SCOPUS:85105924997
SN - 0944-1344
VL - 28
SP - 51530
EP - 51543
JO - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
JF - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
IS - 37
ER -