Environmental distribution and transformation of mercury compounds

Abstract

Health risk assessments for mercury are subject to uncertainties associated with the prediction of exposure from multiple pathways (air, water, and food). In order to accurately predict multipathway exposure, an understanding of the transport and transformation processes that govern mercury's multimedia distribution is required. Modeling and analysis of multimedia exposure requires knowledge of the physicochemical properties, partition coefficients, and intermedia transport properties of a compound. Although a number of reviews of the behavior of mercury in the environment have been published over the last decade, little attention has been given to the environmental multimedia distribution of mercury and the governing intermedia transfer factors. This review provides a comprehensive evaluation of the chemical and physical processes that govern mercury distribution among the major environmental media. Physicochemical properties, partition coefficients, and intermedia transport parameters that can be used to predict abiotic and biotic transfer of mercury among environmental media are also presented.