Urban environmental mercury in Changchun, a metropolitan city in Northeastern China: source, cycle, and fate

Mercury concentrations in each environmental compartment in Changchun City had obvious spatial and temporal trends. Particulate Hg (HgP) and total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentrations in air, total Hg (HgT) concentrations in precipitation and ratios of HgP to HgT (total Hg in air) in the atmosphere in heating season were higher than those in non-heating season, which resulted from civil heating. In contrast, reactive Hg (HgR) concentrations in precipitation were higher in non-heating season than those in heating season. TGM and SO2 in air had good agreement. HgP concentrations in the atmosphere were correlated with HgT concentrations in precipitation. Based on Hg concentrations in each environmental compartment, Hg exchange fluxes between environmental interfaces were estimated. Only 11.6% of Hg, emitted from coal combustion, deposited into land surface in urban district and the rest part participated in regional or global cycle, so urban district was the source of Hg global and regional cycle. Net fluxes of Hg into land surface and water were 34.26 kg year−1 and 0.051 kg year−1, respectively, which were clearly accumulated in the water and soil. Therefore considering urban local Hg cycle, each environmental compartment of urban ecosystem (water, air and soil) was the sink of Hg.