Vertical distributions of mercury in the seawater of the East China Sea and the Kuroshio waters

Abstract

To investigate the vertical distributions of dissolved mercury and particulate mercury, as well as dissolved methyl mercury, the seawater samples at 5 sites in the East China Sea and the Kuroshio waters were collected by clean water sampling method. The concentrations of dissolved mercury and particulate mercury increased with depth, and it was found that the ratio of particulate mercury for total was also increased with depth. In addition, the dissolved methyl mercury concentration showed a maximum around the water depth of 500 m. As water mass structure was changed around this depth, it could be greatly influenced by the vertical distribution of dissolved methyl mercury concentration.