Mercury and Methyl Mercury in Sediments of Northern Lakes-Egypt

Mohamed A. Shreadah, Safaa A.Abdel Ghani, Asia Abd El Samie Taha, Moniem M. Abd El Ahmed, Hamada B. I. Hawash

Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Alexandria, Egypt.

DOI: 10.4236/jep.2012.33032                

Abstract

Fifty-four sediment samples of the five Northern Egyptian lakes, (Mariout, Edku, El-Burullus, El-Manzallah, and El-Bardaweel) were analyzed to investigate the pollution status of mercury (Hg). The total mercury (T-Hg) content in sediment samples ranged from 15.33 to 171.29 ng·g^–1 dry wt).The results showed that T-Hg were lower than the back ground values reported and also lower than the ranges of uncontaminated sediments. Moreover, the T-Hg concentrations in all sediments were under the upper chemical Exceedance level (1 μg·g^–1). The concentrations of Methyl mercury (MeHg) in surface sediments of the Northern lakes ranged from 0.002 - 0.023 ng·g^–1 dry wt. The contribution of MeHg was less than 0.1% of total mercury concentration with index values from 0.08 - 1.37 ng·g^–1; dry wt). MeHg showed insignificant correlation with T-Hg. This suggested that MeHg contents were not controlled by the T-Hg in sediments. The T-Hg and MeHg concentrations were insignificantly correlated with TOC content which indicates that the concentration of T-Hg and MeHg in sediments of Northern lakes were not influence by TOC. The average T-Hg concentration was found in the following order; Mariout > El-Manzallah > El-Burullus > Edku > El-Bardaweel. While the MeHg was found in the order; El-Bardaweel > El-Burullus ≥ El-Manzallah > Mariout > Edku.

Keywords

Mercury; Methyl mercury; Northern Lakes; Egypt

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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