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PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
2-3
pubmed:dateCreated
2000-10-18
pubmed:abstractText
Mercury-contaminated effluent was discharged into Minamata Bay from a chemical plant over a 20-year period until 1965 (from 1958 to 1959, effluent was discharged into Minamata River), causing Minamata disease. In an effort to characterize the extent of the contamination in the Yatsushiro Sea, the vertical and horizontal distributions of mercury in sediment were investigated. Sediment was sampled at 62 locations in the southern part of the sea from 4 to 6 March 1996. In the lower layers of the long cores of sediment, the total amount of mercury was at a relatively uniform low concentration. We interpret these low values to represent the background concentration absent of anthropogenic influence. The background value thus estimated for the Yatsushiro Sea was 0.059 +/- 0.013 mg kg(-1) (mean +/- S.D., n = 51). The highest concentration in each sample ranged from 0.086 to 3.46 mg kg(-1) (mean, 0.57 mg kg(-1)). The higher values were obtained at stations near Minamata Bay and the Minamata River (the sources of the pollution). Concentrations decreased with distance from the source. An inspection of the vertical profiles of mercury concentration in cores suggested that the deposited mercury had not been fixed in sediment but had been transported, despite 30 years having past since the last discharge of contaminated effluent. At nine stations, extractable inorganic and organic mercury concentrations were determined differentially. Inorganic mercury is the predominant species in sediment and organic mercury comprising approximately 1% of the total.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Aug
pubmed:issn
0048-9697
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
10
pubmed:volume
257
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
121-32
pubmed:dateRevised
2000-12-18
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2000
pubmed:articleTitle
Mercury contamination in the Yatsushiro Sea, south-western Japan: spatial variations of mercury in sediment.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Kagoshima University, Korimoto, Japan. tomy@sci.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article