Abstract
The Carson River system of west-central Nevada was subjected to a massive influx of mercury-enriched tailings derived from mining and milling of the Comstock Lode near the end of the 1800s. Detailed investigations have shown that these contaminated tailings were deposited along the Carson River Valley during a period of channel and floodplain aggradation. Following cessation of mining, incision re-exposed the historical sediment in banks of the modern channel. Concentrations of mercury in these deposits are commonly two to three orders of magnitude above background levels observed in other sediments and soils of the region. Most of the mercury is carried on fine-grained particles as would be expected from previous studies of trace metal partitioning in alluvial deposits. However, erosion and reworking of the historical sediment during lateral channel migration leads to a loss of fine-grained particles and a concentration of mercury-gold/silver amalgam grains in the modern channel bed. As a result, mercury is distributed in both fine- and coarse-grained sediment fractions of the channel floor.
The enrichment of trace metals in fine-grained sediment of most aquatic systems has caused some investigators to argue that geographical and temporal trends in trace metal concentrations should be determined only after applying one of the several methodologies developed to correct for the effects of varying grain size. While this concept seems to apply well to the historical deposits of the Carson River, it would lead to erroneous conclusions if applied to the modern channel bed sediments. In addition, mercury, gold and silver are partitioned along the channel in to specific depositional sites, possibly in the form of amalgam grains that are concentrated as placers. It is therefore imperative that downstream trends in mercury concentrations are assessed by examining data collected from similar depositional environments.
It is debatable at this time whether the partitioning of mercury observed along the Carson River occurs in other aquatic systems such as those found in the humid tropics. Nevertheless, the data collected herein illustrate that the partitioning of mercury as a function of both grain-size and depositional environment should be carefully evaluated before developing detailed sampling strategies
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Miller, J.R., Lechler, P.J. (1998). Mercury partitioning within alluvial sediments of the Carson river valley, Nevada: Implications for sampling strategies in tropical environments. In: Wasserman, J.C., Silva-Filho, E.V., Villas-Boas, R. (eds) Environmental Geochemistry in the Tropics. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, vol 72. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0010916
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0010916
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