Événement

MERCURY: Magic, Mining and Menace

ABSTRACT

Due to its unique chemical properties and existing as a silvery liquid at room temperature, mercury (Hg) has fascinated humans since ancient times. It has been mined and used widely throughout history, including during the modern industrial era. It was not until the mid-20th century that the science community began to appreciate a darker side of this alluring element, as a sharp rise in severe neurological disorders, birth defects and premature deaths began to unfold in the mid 1950s in the small fishing village of Minamata Japan. This prolonged mass poisoning event was ultimately linked to the industrial release of Hg into the local bay and the subsequent bioaccumulation of Hg in the local aquatic foodweb that supplied fish to the town. This tragic event, along with a number of other Hg related mass poisoning events, spurred a period of intense research into the biogeochemical cycling of Hg that continues to this day. This presentation will provide a broad overview of mercury in terms of its chemistry, its history with respect to human use, environmental biogeochemistry, and recent / current research being conducted by the US Geological Survey to better understand how this extremely toxic element cycles through the environment. A particular focus of the presentation will be on the use of Hg during the historic mining period in California and how the legacy of that activity still impacts the San Francisco Bay / Delta and its watershed today.

BIOSKETCH: Dr. Mark Marvin-DiPasquale

Dr. Marvin-DiPasquale is a lead scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in the Earth System Processes Division, where he leads a research program entitled Biogeochemical Cycling at Regional Scales. He completed a B.S. in Chemistry at SUNY StonyBrook in 1987, and a Ph.D. in 1995 from University of Maryland, Marine and Estuarine Environmental Science Program, with a focus on the microbial ecology of Chesapeake Bay sediments. He began a career at the USGS (Menlo Park, CA) as a National Research Council post-doc in 1995, and became a project chief in 2004. During much of his tenure at USGS his research focus has been on mercury biogeochemistry in various ecosystems, including: the San Francisco Bay watershed and associated mining areas throughout CA; FL Everglades; Carson River, NV (mercury Superfund site); Great Salt Lake, UT; coastal, Louisiana; Pategonia region of Argentina; and multiple USGS study locations throughout the U.S.

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