The paradigm and recent progress in studying marine mercury isotopes
Mercury(Hg)is a heavy metal that is biologically toxic and can be transported globally as a gas.In the marine environment,Hg is easily converted to the neurotoxin methyl-Hg which bioaccumulates and biomagnifies through the food web,posing risks to ecosystems and human health.Accurately constraining the source,migration,and transformation of marine Hg is crucial for understanding the Hg cycle and has significant value in updating existing marine Hg cycling models and formulating relevant environmental policies.Over the past decade,the development of Hg stable isotope techniques has provided novel insights into the study of Hg cycling in the environment,as well as the related ecological effects.The unique"three-dimensional"fractionation pattern of Hg isotopes,especially the mass independent fractionation(MIF)has brought about a paradigm shift to the study of marine Hg cycling and achieved a series of important discoveries.In this study,we systematically review the recent progress of Hg isotope system in tracing marine Hg cycling,including the sources of Hg in oceans and the generation,transport and transformation of methyl-Hg.Specifically,we provide a key analysis and outlook on recent research hotspots,such as the atmospheric depositional pathways and the cycling of methyl-Hg in open oceans.We recommend that the future research should combine more sophisticated Hg isotope measurement tools and more environmentally relevant Hg isotope fractionation control experiments to further clarify the main controlling factors of marine Hg isotope fractionation and expand the application of Hg isotopes.
万方数据
维普
