@article{TEXTUAL,
      recid = {13780},
      author = {Streets, David G. and Horowitz, Hannah M. and Lu, Zifeng  and Levin, Leonard and Thackray, Colin P. and Sunderland,  Elsie M.},
      title = {Five hundred years of anthropogenic mercury: spatial and  temporal release profiles},
      journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
      address = {2019-07-22},
      number = {TEXTUAL},
      abstract = {When released to the biosphere, mercury (Hg) is very  mobile and can take millennia to be returned to a secure,  long-term repository. Understanding where and when Hg was  released as a result of human activities allows better  quantification of present-day reemissions and future  trajectories of environmental concentrations. In this work,  we estimate the time-varying releases of Hg in seven world  regions over the 500 year period, 1510–2010. By our  estimation, this comprises 95% of all-time anthropogenic  releases. Globally, 1.47 Tg of Hg were released in this  period, 23% directly to the atmosphere and 77% to land and  water bodies. Cumulative releases have been largest in  Europe (427 Gg) and North America (413 Gg). In some world  regions (Africa/Middle East and Oceania), almost all (>99%)  of the Hg is relatively recent (emitted since 1850),  whereas in South America it is mostly of older vintage (63%  emitted before 1850). Asia was the greatest-emitting region  in 2010, while releases in Europe and North America have  declined since the 1970s, as recognition of the risks posed  by Hg have led to its phase-out in commercial usage. The  continued use of Hg in artisanal and small-scale gold  mining means that the Africa/Middle East region is now a  major contributor. We estimate that 72% of cumulative Hg  emissions to air has been in the form of elemental mercury  (Hg0), which has a long lifetime in the atmosphere and can  therefore be transported long distances. Our results show  that 83% of the total Hg has been released to local water  bodies, onto land, or quickly deposited from the air in  divalent (HgII) form. Regionally, this value ranges from  77% in Africa/Middle East and Oceania to 89% in South  America. Results from global biogeochemical modeling  indicate improved agreement of the refined emission  estimates in this study with archival records of Hg  accumulation in estuarine and deep ocean sediment.},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/13780},
}