The atmospheric and aquatic cycles of mercury and other trace metals are being investigated in multi-faceted studies which are often interdisciplinary and involve international collaboration. These efforts range from global models to studies of the role of microorganisms in elemental Hg production. The aquatic biogeochemistry of mercury in Long Island Sound is of special interest. Ombrotrophic peat bogs and lake sediments in Nova Scotia and New Zealand will be exhaustively tested to determine the potential usefulness of such ecosystems in providing unequivocal records of contemporary and historical atmospheric depositional fluxes of mercury, as well as a measure of anthropogenic perturbations on a global basis. This work complements ongoing investigations into the pathways and processes determining the fate of mercury in coastal and open ocean environments.
Current research includes a study of mercury cycling in the Atlantic.
Some Representative Publications Kim, J.P. and W.F. Fitzgerald. 1986. Sea-air partitioning of mercury in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Mason, R.P. and W.F. Fitzgerald. Alkylmercury species in the equatorial Pacific. Fitzgerald, W.F., R.P. Mason and G.M. Vandal.