Mercury Content in Spring Waters and Its Relationship to Chloride lon

Abstract

The mercury content was determined for some spring waters collected from areas without recent fumarolic activity (Yashio, Gumma pref.; Boso penin., Chiba pref.; Shiobara, Tochigi pref.; Atsushio, Fukushima pref.; Izu penin., Shizuoka pref. and Northern Tohoku dist., Japan).
Chemical characteristics of spring waters discharged from 72 springs, with pH ranging from 5.4 to 8.8 and temperature ranging from 14.5 to 100°C, showed that they were chloride spr ings (52 springs), sulfate springs (8 springs) and simple springs (12 springs). Mercury contents in those spring waters were from less than 0.001μg/l to 3.5 μg/l. Among those waters, three samples (Atami, Shiobara-Motoyu, Atsushio) contained mercury more than 0.05 μg/l and twenty-five samples contained mercury less than 0.005 μg/l.
The temperature of waters were proved to be importa nt as a factor controlling the mercury concentration. However, there was little positive correlation between the mercury and chloride contents in waters. Particularly, the spring waters containing chloride more than 5 g/l -were characterized by low concentrations of mercury. Ten samples among fifteen waters containing chloride more than 5 g/l contained mercury less than 0.005μg/l.