Fluvial Transports of Mercury Pollution
in the III River Basin (Northeastern France):
Partitioning into Aqueous Phases,
Suspended Matter and Bottom Sediments
J.1. PROBST, A. MESSAITFA, G. KREMPP, and P. BEHRA
1
Introduction
The increase and dispersion in aquatic systems of mercury, which is not very
abundant in the global environment, are mainly due to the industrial
development and intensification of human activities (halogen chemicals, dental
and pharmaceutic industries, agriculture, gold mining, etc.). In the Alsace region
(northeastern France), the III river and one of its tributaries, the Thur, are the
most polluted because of industrial wastewaters from the chlorine and soda
industry which uses mercury as a cathode in electrolysis.
The III river, which is a tributary of the Rhine, drains the eastern side of the
Vosges Massif and the Alsatian plain (Fig. 1). In this region, groundwater plays
an important role in the economy and in hydrosystem equilibrium. In the upper
part of the III drainage basin, the river greatly contributes to the groundwater
supply (Esteves 1989; Roeck 1992), but the upper part of the III river presents
strong positive anomalies in mercury concentrations which can be attributed to
the industrial plants devoted to chlorine products in Vieux Thann (Dinh 1982).
Within the framework of French scientific programmes (i.e. GIP Hydrosystemes and Programme Environnement, Vie et Societes of CNRS), we have
been studying the fate of mercury inputs into the III river from the pollution
source in the upper part of the basin (Vieux Thann) to the downstream part of
the basin, before the confluence with the Rhine, near Strasbourg (Probst 1996)
since 1994.
The main objective of this study is to follow the fate of mercury in the river
system, particularly in the different phases, i.e. aqueous phase, suspended matter
and bottom sediments. It is also to determine the influence of physicochemical
processes on the mercury fluvial transports in the different phases. This study is
focused on the influence of the chloride concentration on mercury content in the
solution, in a region where the chemical composition of the river water is highly
influenced by saline industrial activity from potash mines, and also on the
influence of sediment particle size on the distribution of mercury in riversuspended matter and in river bottom sediments.
Environmental Science
Mercury Contaminated Sites (ed. by R. Ebinghaus et al.)
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1999
in the III River Basin (Northeastern France):
Partitioning into Aqueous Phases,
Suspended Matter and Bottom Sediments
J.1. PROBST, A. MESSAITFA, G. KREMPP, and P. BEHRA
1
Introduction
The increase and dispersion in aquatic systems of mercury, which is not very
abundant in the global environment, are mainly due to the industrial
development and intensification of human activities (halogen chemicals, dental
and pharmaceutic industries, agriculture, gold mining, etc.). In the Alsace region
(northeastern France), the III river and one of its tributaries, the Thur, are the
most polluted because of industrial wastewaters from the chlorine and soda
industry which uses mercury as a cathode in electrolysis.
The III river, which is a tributary of the Rhine, drains the eastern side of the
Vosges Massif and the Alsatian plain (Fig. 1). In this region, groundwater plays
an important role in the economy and in hydrosystem equilibrium. In the upper
part of the III drainage basin, the river greatly contributes to the groundwater
supply (Esteves 1989; Roeck 1992), but the upper part of the III river presents
strong positive anomalies in mercury concentrations which can be attributed to
the industrial plants devoted to chlorine products in Vieux Thann (Dinh 1982).
Within the framework of French scientific programmes (i.e. GIP Hydrosystemes and Programme Environnement, Vie et Societes of CNRS), we have
been studying the fate of mercury inputs into the III river from the pollution
source in the upper part of the basin (Vieux Thann) to the downstream part of
the basin, before the confluence with the Rhine, near Strasbourg (Probst 1996)
since 1994.
The main objective of this study is to follow the fate of mercury in the river
system, particularly in the different phases, i.e. aqueous phase, suspended matter
and bottom sediments. It is also to determine the influence of physicochemical
processes on the mercury fluvial transports in the different phases. This study is
focused on the influence of the chloride concentration on mercury content in the
solution, in a region where the chemical composition of the river water is highly
influenced by saline industrial activity from potash mines, and also on the
influence of sediment particle size on the distribution of mercury in riversuspended matter and in river bottom sediments.
Environmental Science
Mercury Contaminated Sites (ed. by R. Ebinghaus et al.)
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1999