Long-Term Wet and Dry Deposition of Total and Methyl Mercury in the Remote Boreal Ecoregion of Canada

Although a positive relationship between atmospheric loadings of inorganic mercury (Hg(II)) to watersheds and concentrations of methyl mercury (MeHg) in fish has now been established, net wet and dry deposition of Hg(II) and MeHg to watersheds remains challenging to quantify. In this study, concentrations and loadings of total mercury (THg; all forms of Hg in a sample) and MeHg in open area wet deposition, throughfall, and litterfall were quantified at the remote Experimental Lakes Area in the boreal ecoregion, NW Ontario, Canada. Between 1992 and 2006, mean annual THg and MeHg loadings in the open were 36 ± 17 and 0.5 ± 0.2 mg ha−1, respectively. Throughfall THg and MeHg loadings were generally 2−4 times and 0.8−2 times higher, respectively, than loadings in the open. Loadings of both THg and MeHg were highest under an old growth spruce/fir canopy and lowest under a deciduous maple canopy, whereas loadings under young jack pine and wetland spruce/pine/alder canopies were intermediate. Litterfall generall...